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THE LAKE OF GENEVA 




A FOUNTAIN IN NYON 



The Lake of Geneva 



By 

Sir FREDERICK TREVES, Bart. 

G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D., Sergeant- Surgeon to His Majesty the King 

Author of " The Other Side of the Lantern," " The Cradle of the Deep," " The 

Country of the Ring and the Book," " High- ways and By-ways of Dorset," 

" The Riviera of the' Corniche Road," etc. etc. 



With a Map and loo IllustraUons from Photographs by the Author 



New York 
FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY 



^o-"":;. 

.0-^^ * 






Preface 

4PPAiRENTLY no book in English deals— from the 
/ % point of view of the present-day traveller — with 
the Lake of Geneva as a whole. One work will 
concern itself with the Swiss side and another with the 
shores of Savoy, the two countries being regarded as 
unassimilable. Modern facilities in travelling have made 
the two shores one, and, moreover, the history of the 
district can hardly be appreciated unless it be considered 
as a whole. 

I have included two places — ^Abondance and Gruyeres 
— which are not on Lac Leman because few who come 
to the Lake fail to visit these ancient towns, since it is 
from the Lake that they are both most conveniently 
reached. 

I am indebted to the management of the Etablisse- 
ment des Bains at Evian for access to a library of over 
two hundred volumes dealing exclusively with the Lake 
and with Savoy. Extensive use has been made of the 
admirable Dictionnaire Historique du Canton de Vaud, 
the publication of which has just been completed. 

FREDERICK TREVES. 

Vevey, February, 1922. 



Contents 



1. The Lake of Geneva 

2. Geneva : A General View .... 

3. Geneva : The Old Streets .... 

4. Geneva : The Old Buildings and the Alleys 

5. The Escalade ...... 



A. FROM GENEVA TO THE DRANSE 

6. Hermance and Yvoire 

7. The Tragedy of Beauregard 

8. Thonon .... 

9. Round about Thonon 

10. RiPAILLE .... 

11. Two Legends of Ripaille . 

B, FROM THE DRANSE TO THE RHONE 

12. A Deserted Spa . 

13. EVIAN 

14. The Fete-Dieu . 

15. Victor Amadeus II and Evian 

16. The Real Country 

17. How Marie Aimee met Seven Angels in the 

Guise of Mendicants 

18. The Castle of St. Paul ... 

19. The Great Stone and the Haunted Lake 

20. The Holly of the Talking Cats 

21. The Abbey of Abondance . 

22. From Evian to Bouveret . 

23. Meillerie and its Love Story . 

vii 



PAGE 
1 

6 
16 
22 

29 



48 
54 
61 
69 

78 



83 

88 

97 

100 

106 

111 
114 
118 
123 
129 
135 
139 



Contents 

24. John Evelyn at Bouveret 

25. Across the Rhone ..... 

C. FROM THE RHONE TO LAUSANNE 

26. The Three Towns 

27. Chillon ....... 

28. The Prisoner of Chillon .... 

29. Barbille of Chatelard .... 

30. Vevey 

31. La Tour de Peilz ..... 

32. The Escapade of Madame de Warens 

33. Blonay Castle ...... 

34. Gruyeres ....... 

35. On the Road to Lausanne 

36. A Chapel in a Grocer's Shop 

37. LUTRY ....... 

38. Lausanne ....... 

39. Gibbon at Lausanne ..... 

40. OUCHY . . . . 



PAGE 

147 
152 



165 
173 
179 
184 
189 
197 
200 
209 
215 
224 
230 
236 
241 
252 
263 



D. FROM LAUSANNE TO GENEVA 

41. St. Sulpice and Morges ... . . 269 

42. St. Prex and a Man of Weight . . . 279 

43. RoLLE . . . 283 

44. Nyon . . . . . . . . .289 

45. Madame de Stael ...... 297 

46. CoppET AND its Chateau ..... 308 

47. The Home of Susanna Curchod . . . 315 

48. The Town that is not a Town . . . .319 

49. Voltaire at Ferney ...... 324 

Index 333 



Vlll 



List of Illustrations 



A Fountain in Nyon 


• 


• 


Frontispiece 


FACING PAGE 


Geneva from the Lake ^ 


Geneva : The Last of the Penthouses . 






. 10- 


Geneva : Monument to the Reformation 






. 14 


Geneva : Rue Calvin 






. 18^ 


Geneva : Bourg de Four 








20 


Geneva : Tour Baudet 








24 


Geneva : Scene of the Escalade 








30^ 


Hermance, from the Lake - 








40^ 


Hermance .... 








40" 


Yvoire (Castle on Right) 








42^ 


A Gate of Yvoire 








44v 


Street in Yvoire . 








44> 


Yvoire : The Church 








46^ 


Beauregard ... 








50- 


Thonon ..... 








54' 


Thonon : St. Francis' Shop 








58^ 


Rives below Thonon . 








58' 


The Castle of A Hinges 








62^ 


The Chapel of AUinges 








64^ 


Concise ..... 








64- 


The Dranse .... 








66' 


The Old Bridge over the Dranse 






68* 


Ripaille : The Entrance 


• • 






70^ 



IX 



List of Illustrations 



FACING 



The Chateau of Ripaille 
Ripaille : The Nut Tower . 
Amphion .... 

Amphion : The Deserted Spa 
Evian 

Evian : One of the Towers . 
Evian Church 

How Vines are Grown in Savoy- 
Marie Aimee's Shrine . 
The Great Stone 
Dent d'Oche 
Maxilly Castle 

Abondance : The Cloisters . 
Abondance : The Door of the Virgin . 
Petite Rive : A Typical Lake-side Village 
Meillerie ...... 

Tower at Porte du Sex 

Chessel Church . . . . 

Noville ...... 

Villeneuve : The Bouvier House . 

Villeneuve : The Tower 

Sea-gulls on the Lake 

Chillon from the Lake 

ChiUon 

A Courtyard in Chillon ... 

The Great Hall, Chillon 

The Pillar in the Torture Chamber, Chillon 

The Castle of Chatelard 

Vevey ...... 

A Street in Vevey .... 



List of Illustrations 



FACING 


PAGE 


Chateau de la Tour de Peilz, from the Harbour . 




196 


Chateau de la Tour de Peilz .... 




198 


Blonay Castle ....... 




210 


Blonay Castle : The Main Gate . . 




212 


St. Saphorin : The Entry 




224 


GleroUes, showing a Background of Vineyards 




224 


Cully : A Door of 1598 




232 


Cully : A Mediaeval Bench dug out from Tree Trunk 




232 


Lutry 




236 


Lutry : The Church Door 




236 


Lutry ; The Castle and Town Wall . 




238 


Lutry : The Castle Door 




240 


Lutry : The Stone Hand 




240 


Lausanne 




242 


Lausanne : Fountain and Town Hall . 




244 


Lausanne : The Market Stairs .... 




246 


Lausanne : The Wooden House . 




246 


Lausanne : Tower of Bishop's Palace . 




248 


Lausanne : The Chateau ..... 




248 


Lausanne ; The House in which Gibbon Lodged . 




256 


Stone showing Leagues ..... 




270 


St. Sulpice ....... 




270 


Morges ........ 




272 


The Castle of Morges 




276 


Vufflens . 




276 


St. Prex 




280 


St. Prex : The Town Gate .... 




280 


Rolle 




284 


The Castle of Rolle 




286 


Rolle 




286 



XI 



List of Illustrations 









FACING PAGE 


The Tower of Aubonne 288 


Aubonne : Entrance to the Chateau 






. 288 


Nyon. ..... 






. 290 


Nyon : Rue de la Flechere 






. 294 


Nyon : The Writing on the Wall 






. 294 


Madame de Stael 






. 302 


Coppet : The Chateau 






. 308 


Coppet : The Church .... 






. 310 


Coppet : The Main Street . 






. 312 


Coppet : The Entrance to the Chateau 




. 314 


Coppet : Where Madame de Stael is Buried 




. 314 


Crassier : The Church and Gendarmerie 




. 316 


Grassier : The Home of Susanna Curchod 




. 318 


Versoix ....... 




. 320 


Old Shops in Ferney 




. 328 


Voltaire's House, Ferney .... 




. 328 


Map . 






. 332 



xu 



THE LAKE OF GENEVA 



THE LAKE OF GENEVA 

THE concise facts about the Lake of Geneva are 
these : It is the Lac Leman of the French. It is 
the largest of the lakes. It stands at a height of 
1,220 feet above the level of the sea, and its waters are 
blue. It is bounded by Savoy on the one side and by 
Switzerland on the other. The Rhone runs through it 
from end to end. It is subject to a strange undulatory 
wave called a seiche, which passes across it like a shudder, 
or as if the side of the cup in which the Lake is lodged 
had been lightly struck. 

The vast dimensions of the Lake can best be realized 
by imagining it empty of its water. It would then 
appear as a barren valley of rock 45 miles long and 
S^ miles broad at its widest point. It would take the 
form of a vast, terrific canyon, with sides of clammy and 
cadaverous stone and with a depth so profound that its 
bottom would be almost in twilight, since at its deepest 
it sinks no less than 1,095 feet. 

At one end of the valley the Rhone would pour in 
as an icy waterfall ; while at the other end — ^like a card- 

B I 



The Lake of Geneva 

board toy on the top of a bank — would be the city of 
Geneva. The bottom of the valley would be covered 
with the clay-coloured mud brought down by the river, 
and here, one may imagine, would be writhing and 
plunging those fearsome reptiles that belong to the 
Legends of the Lake. There would be strange heaps 
of wreckage amid the silvery acres of dead fish, and, 
perhaps, on a ledge of rock in the valley's side a lonely 
skeleton with a rope and stone still dangling from its 
neck; for executions by drowning were once common 
in these waters. 

Far more important than its topographical features 
are the conflicts of thought and of national ideals of 
which the Lake has been the scene. On the south 
shores of Leman the feudal form of government pre- 
vailed. Here the castle and the baron dominated the 
land; the peasants were serfs, and those in higher 
place but obsequious servants. In early days Savoy was 
broken up into little seigneuries, which held their own 
with such strength as they could command. Then came 
Humbert of the White Hands, who banded the inde- 
pendent, feudal lords into one united body and so 
established the State of Savoy, of which he — as Count 
— became the autocratic ruler. Savoy rose to be a 
power, not through the merit of its princes, but by the 
circumstance that France never ceased in her attempts 
to gain possession of it. It was the greed and aggression 
of France that made Savoy whole, that kept it united 
and kept it strong. But whether under one lord or under 
many, it remained the land where men had few rights 
but those of obedience. 

On the other side of the Lake the contrary condition 



The Lake of Geneva 

held sway. The people were bent upon acquiring liberty 
and the control of their own destinies. So long as they 
were subject to rule they never ceased to clamour for 
more freedom. Little by little their demands were 
granted until, with increasing confidence, they grew 
bold, threw off the yoke of their overlords and estab- 
lished the first republics in modern Europe. Thus on 
one side of the water was an enlightened democracy, 
while on the other was a dull feudalism. 

The waters of the Lake that divided the Royalist 
from the Republican were destined, in time, to separate 
two antagonistic phases of religious thought. When 
the Reformation blazed forth, the north shores of Lac 
Leman became the advanced line of Protestantism and 
the bulwark behind which its forces gathered. Across 
the water were the entrenchments of Rome. These 
upholders of adverse faiths glared at one another across 
the blue until, in a memorable year, the army of the 
Reformation crossed the barrier, invaded the Roman 
lines, swept over Chaiblais^ and converted it to Protest- 
antism. The victory was only for a while, since under 
the leadership of St. Francis of Sales the Catholic Church 
succeeded in regaining the ground that it had lost and 
that it has never since surrendered. 

But this is not all, for the Lake was to witness 
another profound movement which served further to 
divide the minds of men — ^Voltairism came into being. 
Voltairism, Lord Morley claims to stand out as " one of 
the great decisive movements in the European advance, 
like the Revival of Learning, or the Reformation." 
*' We may think," he adds, ''of Voltairism in France 

1 Chablais is that province of Savoy whicli borders on the Lake. 

3 



The Lake of Geneva 

somewhat as we think of CathoUcism or the Renaissance 
or Calvinism. It was one of the cardinal liberations of 
the growing race, one of the emphatic manifestations of 
some portion of the minds of men, which an immediately 
foregoing system and creed had either ignored or out- 
raged."^ Voltaire lived at Ferney — ^a few miles from 
Geneva — for some twenty years, during which time he 
never failed to spread abroad the views with which his 
name is associated. 

In present aspect the two shores of Lac Oman differ 
very much when seen from the water. On the Savoy side 
is a luxuriant land, wayward and unsophisticated, a land 
without walls or hedges where things seem to grow as 
they will with little method or restraint. The north 
shore, on the other hand, is meticulously tilled. Its 
slope, from Vevey almost to Nyon, is covered with vine- 
yards patterned out by formal lines and made to look 
stiff and artificial. In the spring the northern bank of 
the Lake for many miles is a cinnamon-brown and as 
monotonous in hue as a ploughed field. When the vine 
leaves appear the slope becomes a hesitating green and 
then a bolder green which, as the autumn wanes, fades 
into tints of yellow or ruddy brown. Thus it is that 
the more pleasing view of the Lake is gained from the 
northern side, for it affords a view across the water of 
a coast that is always green and that has, moreover, as 
a glorious background, a range of mountains capped with 
snow. 

Many times and by many pens has the Lake been 
described. The descriptions are monotonous, for they 
are all in terms of ''blue" and are indeed httle more 

1 ♦« Voltaire," by John Morley. London, 1897. 
4 




AMPHI3N 




AMPHION : THE DESERTED SPA 



The Lake of Geneva 

than rhapsodies in blue. Ruskin exults in the glories 
of this tint with such thoroughness that he leaves the 
subject almost exhausted, for he speaks of *Hhe ever- 
answering glow of unearthly aquamarine, ultramarine, 
violet-blue, gentian-blue, peacock-blue, river-of -paradise- 
blue, glass of a painted window melted in the sun." 

It is unquestionable that the Lake is often blue ; but 
it is always a delicate and timid blue, very unlike the 
bold assertive blue of the Mediterranean. It is, more- 
over, a tint that ever varies, that changes with each 
hour of the day, for the surface of the Lake is sensitive, 
sympathetic and full of moods. It may fade into grey, 
the grey of the pearl if the sun be on it, the grey of 
the smoke of burning wood if it be in the shadow of a 
cloud. There are days when it is almost jade-green. 
There are evenings when it is streaked with lilac, with 
coral-pink or with rose-red. There are, moreover, occa- 
sions, it must be said, when " the river-of -paradise-blue " 
is replaced by a colour so commonplace as that of an 
old pewter plate. The surface of the Lake has been 
compared to a mirror, but it is seldom so hard or so 
artificial as to justify that comparison. It may on a 
sunless day resemble a sheet of blue Damascus steel, or 
when the mist is gathering it may have the appearance 
of sullen ice, but of the Lake as a sitting-room mirror 
few can have knowledge. 

For convenience of description the Lake in the 
following account is divided into four sections : 

A. From Geneva to the Dranse. 

B. From the Dranse to the Rhone. 

C. From the Rhone to Lausanne. 

D. From Lausanne to Geneva. 

5 



II 

GENEVA : A GENERAL VIEW 

GENEVA, when seen for the first time, should be 
seen from the Lake. To arrive at the railway 
station and be conveyed through featureless 
streets in an hotel omnibus is merely to gain an impres- 
sion of a town that may be any town, may be Lyons 
or Marseilles or such other city as has the names of its 
streets inscribed in French, 

The visitor would expect to find something very 
distinctive about Geneva, if he be one of those who hold 
that human characteristics are influenced or determined 
by environment. He would insist that there must be 
something unusual about the aspect, position or sur- 
roundings of Geneva to account for its history and its 
pronounced individuality. What is there in the topo- 
graphy of the place that can explain its ponderous 
gravity, its love of learning, its hatred of the trivial, its 
passion for reform, and its general dourness? 

Geneva seems never to have had a childhood, much 
less a frivolous youth. It has always appeared to be old 
and solemn beyond its years. From its earliest days it 
clamoured for liberty at the time when its neighbours 
were quite content with their dukes and their kings. 
While other towns had their tournaments and courts of 
love, Geneva was poring over its books. While the 
girl of Savoy was slyly dropping rose leaves on a trouba- 

6 



.-■M'fe^ 



*•? 



Geneva: A General View 

dour, the maiden of Geneva was sitting at the feet of 
a droning preacher. While its gates were closed to the 
jester and the mountebank, they were open to the fanatic 
and the crank; for Geneva was ever a sanctuary to the 
man with a grievance, to the honest rebel and to all who 
were oppressed. There has passed along the streets of 
this city as strange a company of men as ever haunted 
the shades of Dante's Purgatorio, wild-eyed men who 
went by shaking their fists at a world of wrong, men 
too who were aflame with the spirit of destruction and 
the breaking up of laws, as well as smiling men who, as 
they passed, muttered to themselves of a new heaven 
and a new earth. 

What mark has all this emotion left upon Geneva, 
or what is there about the disposition of the town that 
can explain its exceptional temperament.^ The answer 
is : There is nothing. 

Approached from the Lake, Geneva appears as a 
brilliant city at the end of an avenue of shining water 
bounded by green banks. Here the Lake terminates 
and here the city shuts in the scene, as if the sheet of 
water were a stage. The houses are drawn across from 
shore to shore like a dam. They form an unbroken wall 
and yet at some point the Rhone must be breaking 
through to make its escape to the sea; but of any such 
gap there is no sign. About the place is a sense of 
finality, a sense of having come to the end of things, for 
over the tops of the houses that close the Lake there is 
nothing to be seen but the sky. The dam might be built 
on the brink of the world and beyond it there may be 
nothing but space into which the Rhone drops like a 
waterfall. 

7 



The Lake of Geneva 

On nearer approach the briUiancy of Geneva becomes 
more evident. The houses are lofty and bravely coloured 
and present a wide front of thousands of windows 
and thousands of sun-blinds. There is nothing to suggest 
academic solemnity or puritanical gloom. On a hillock 
to the left are the towers and spire of a church, but 
beyond this Geneva would appear to be composed of gay 
and magnificent hotels. In the matter of cheerfulness 
and worldliness it may be an inland Nice or a lake-side 
Monte Carlo. 

A fuller acquaintance with Calvin's home shows it to 
be a fine ambitious city, beautifully ordered and modern 
in every particle of its being. Geneva, like Lausanne, 
has long carried on a crusade against all that is old within 
its boundaries. Old Geneva has practically vanished, 
except in a few by-ways and corners; while in its place 
is a reformed city which is evidently determined never 
to put new wine into old bottles. 

That Geneva is still a place of refuge may be gathered 
from the fact that, although the population of the 
Canton is 151,000, only 50,000 of this number are 
Genevese, while 39,000 are Swiss of other Cantons and 
no fewer than 62,000 are foreigners. 

The passing away of old Geneva is to be deplored, 
as it was a town of peculiar fascination. Ruskin speaks 
of it as ''the most lovely spot, and the most notable, 
without any possible doubt, of the European universe," 
as " SL bird's nest of a place, the centre of religious 
and social thought and of physical beauty to all hving 
Europe."^ Happily very many prints and old accounts 
exist of Geneva as it ,was, so that it is possible to 

1 " Praeterita." 
8 



Geneva : A General View 

reconstruct, in imagination, the city of ancient days.^ 
It consisted of two parts joined by a bridge over the 
Rhone. The part on the north side — the Quartier St. 
Gervais — was small and occupied a very low hillock; 
while the south part — the Quartier St. Pierre — was large 
and covered a dome-shaped hill of some height. Both 
parts of the town were surrounded by a wall and a moat. 
The wall was made formidable by many towers and 
pierced by many gates. Of the moat, the gates and 
the towers all traces have disappeared, but of the ancient 
walls there are still some meagre relics to be seen, as 
in the Rue d' Italic and the Rue de Beauregard. 

Mediaeval Geneva was a small place. The confines of 
the south town may be indicated at the present day by 
the lake-side, the Rue d'ltalie, the Rue des Casemates, 
the foot of the Rue de la Croix Rouge and the Corra- 
terie; and the boundaries of the smaller town by the 
quay, by the Rue des Terreaux du Temple, the Cornavin 
and the Rue de Chantepoulet. 

Inside the Quartier St. Pierre there are feeble traces 
of even an older town, the almost forgotten Burgundian 
town, for after the passing away of the Romans Geneva 
became, in 443, the capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy. 
Gondebaud, the most famous and most disreputable of 
the early Burgundian kings, built a castle in Geneva in 
the Bourg-de-Four and surrounded the town with a wall. 
About 534 the Franks possessed the place, but at the 
end of the ninth century it was annexed by the new 

1 " Voyage pittoresque en Suisse," par fimile Begin. Paris, 1852. " Swit- 
zerland," by Wm. Beattie. London, 1834. " Les Actes et Gestes Merveilleux 
de la Cite de Geneve," par A. Fromment (written in 1550). Geneva, 1854. 
*' Le Tour du L^man," par A. de Bougy. Paris, 1846. " Beaut^s de I'Histoire 
de la Savoie et de Geneve," par P. Nougaret. Paris, 1818. ** L'Ancienne 
Geneve," par J. Mayor. Geneva, 1896. 

9 



The Lake of Geneva 

Burgundian kingdom under Rodolfe I. In 1038 — on 
the death of Rodolfe III — ^it passed into the possession 
of the German Empire, and thus is explained how the 
Imperial eagle on a yellow ground became a part of 
the arms of the city. The wall that enclosed the old 
Burgundian town ran to the east of the Cathedral and 
the Bourg-de-Four, followed on the north the Une of 
the Rue Calvin, and extended towards the Rhone as far 
as the Tour de Boel. Fragments of this old wall appear 
in the Rue du Manege, Rue de Bemont, the alleys of 
the Rue de la Pelisserie and the north face of the Rue 
Calvin. 

The bridge was a remarkable feature of Geneva. It 
was interrupted by an island, as it is to this day. It was 
of wood, and was crowded with wooden houses which 
hung perilously over the Rhone. They did more than 
this. They waded out into the river on piles, some 
venturing as far as a hundred feet. They formed a 
curious medley of taverns and private houses, of shops 
and primitive factories, for in certain of the dwellings 
there was a water-wheel whirling under the ground floor. 
The houses were all gaily decorated, and the roadway 
was made brilliant by swinging shop-signs and the sign- 
boards of inns, with perhaps, now and then, the coat of 
arms of a noble resident. As the structure was of wood, 
it is no wonder that, on a certain day in 1670, the bridge 
and all that was on it was burned to the water's edge. 

About a century ago Geneva was the delight of 
everyone who had eyes to see. There was no city like 
it, old travellers were wont to assert. Shelley was about 
the only visitor of note who could find ''nothing in it 
that can repay you the trouble of walking over its rough 

lO 




GENEVA: THE LAST OF THE PENTHOUSES 



Geneva: A General View 

stones."^ He complained, too, that the gates were 
closed at 10 p.m. (The chief gates were demolished in 
1831.) To Ruskin it was always " the dear old decrepit 
town." He describes it, in his '' Praeterita," as '* a 
little town, composed of a cluster of watermills, a street 
of penthouses, two wooden bridges, two dozen of stone 
houses on a little hill, and three or four perpendicular 
lanes up and down the hill." He found, however, 
another bridge over the moat. It was '' the delicatest 
of filiform suspension bridges," he says, '' strong enough 
it looked to carry a couple of lovers over in safety, or a 
nursemaid and children, but nothing heavier." 

Old prints and drawings (such as those of Henri 
Silvestre) show what an exceedingly picturesque place 
it was, with its untidy river banks, its piratical-looking 
lanes, its tumbledown mills, its ancient dwellings with 
their great overshadowing roofs and wooden balconies, 
while the river-side houses hung over the water like a 
line of old clothes clinging to pegs. 

Perhaps the most striking and unique feature of 
Geneva in those days were the penthouses. They stood 
high up under the eaves of the dwelling, where they 
formed part of the fifth story. They were supported on 
immensely tall square pillars of wood which sprang from 
the street. They sheltered the houses from sun and rain. 
There is only one penthouse left in Geneva. It is in the 
Rue de la Cite (No. 5). It consists of one towering 
square pillar which supports a room on the fifth story. 
The little room, which has two windows, looks like a 
dovecote on a pole. I can imagine it occupied by a boy 
who had faith in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. 

1 " History of a Six Weeks' Tour/' London, 1817. 
II 



The Lake of Geneva 

Those who are unmoved by new municipal buildings, 
palatial hotels and super-modern shops will find the most 
interesting part of Geneva in the Musee d'Art et 
Histoire, where will be seen, among a superb collection 
of old prints, two large models of the town as it 
appeared in 1815 and 1850 respectively. In the same 
museum also are deposited innumerable relics which have 
come down from the days of the lake-dweller and the 
Roman occupation to the sober times of the nineteenth 
century. Here will be seen a prehistoric boat and its 
paddles, old furniture, old ceilings, old tavern signs, old 
ironwork, as well as a medley of little things that recall 
the intimate life of the serious city. Notable in the 
collection are two street doors, one a splendid piece of 
woodwork of the sixteenth century from the Rue de la 
Pelisserie, and another from the Rue Calvin which is 
covered with the burnt-in stamps of various revolutionary 
clubs. Among these writings in red-hot iron are a heart 
enclosing the word " constant," the cap of liberty on a 
staff with the doubtfully sincere word ''pax," the 
frequently recurring design of two fish, and many 
monograms and initials. 

One feature in Geneva that curiously impresses the 
visitor is the sight of the Rhone rushing through the 
town. There is some inscrutable magic in this spectacle, 
for I have watched a perspiring tourist tearing along the 
quay with guide-book in hand and with evidently not a 
moment to spare. I have seen him cast a glance over 
the parapet at the Rhone and suddenly stop, to forget 
his haste, and possibly his lunch, and to gaze on the 
river with the absorption of a mesmerized man. It is 
difficult to say what constitutes the fascination of this 

12 



Geneva: A General View 

amazing stream. It is an effect compounded of many 
things, of the terrific speed at which the tide whirls 
by, of its haunting colour — a spectral blue — and of its 
gigantic volume, for it seems as if this outrush must 
empty the Lake in a day. 

The sight of the Rhone at Geneva made a great 
impression upon Ruskin, who explains its enchantment 
in the following fine passage : 

" For all other rivers there is a surface, and an underneath, 
and a vaguely displeasing idea of the bottom. But the Rhone 
flows like one lambent jewel ; its surface is nowhere, its ethereal 
self is everywhere, the iridescent rush and translucent strength 
of it blue to the shore, and radiant to the depth. Fifteen feet 
thick, of not flowing, but flying water; not water, neither, — 
melted glacier, rather, one should call it ; the force of the ice 
is with it, and the wreathing of the clouds, the gladness of the 
sky, and the continuance of Time. Waves of clear sea are, 
indeed, lovely to watch, but they are always coming or gone, 
never in any taken shape to be seen for a second. But here 
was one mighty wave that was always itself, and every fluted 
swirl of it, constant as the wreathing of a shell . . . the 
never-pausing plunge, and never-fading flash, and never- 
hushing whisper." 

In the place of the two bridges of Ruskin 's time there 
are now seven. They are all temperately ugly. In the 
middle of the river, as it leaves the Lake, is a pleasant 
little island called, in old days, the He des Bergues, or 
Isle of Barges. It is shaded by trees and forms a cool 
retreat from the whirl of traffic and the buzz of life along 
the quays. It is occupied by an unpretentious cafe and 
a pretentious statue of Rousseau, by reason of which it 
is called Rousseau's Island. It brings those who come 
here in very intimate association with the wonder of the 

13 



The Lake of Geneva 

river; since, but for the lack of movement, it might be 
a raft anchored in the torrent. 

It is, moreover, a place frequented by sea-gulls. 
These birds are an agreeable feature in the life of the 
Lake. Their migration every year is a matter of 
mystery. They go ; but no one knows whither, for the 
nursery of the race is still a secret place. The birds 
are becoming demoralized. Their proper occupation is 
jfishing; but now that the tourists have taken to feeding 
them with bread they have neglected that industry. 
Instead of following the fish in the Lake, they prefer 
to follow the steamers, to haunt the quays and to subsist 
on the unemployment dole which is so lavishly bestowed. 
They will soon become, like the pigeons of Venice, a 
company of tourist-supported idlers. 

If the average visitor were advised that there is, in 
a public park in Geneva, a new and recently erected 
monument to the Reformation he would probably 
express gratitude for the warning and add that there 
were already enough recent memorials in England and 
France to satisfy the most morbid craving. Yet this is 
a monument so remarkable and so impressive that it is 
worth a pilgrimage to see it. 

It consists of a long stone wall of great height. At 
the bottom of the wall runs a stream, clear as crystal, 
in a channel of stone. There are lilies in flower in the 
stream. Above the wall rises the old city of Geneva. 
In the centre of the wall stand erect four gigantic 
figures of men. They are the four leaders of the 
Reformation — Farel, Calvin, Beze and Knox. They are 
solemn enough and grim enough; while their immense 
proportions give them the aspect of superhuman strength. 

14 




J 



Geneva: A General View 

They stand, side by side, with their backs to the wall. 
It is, however, no mere wall ; for behind it is the curtain 
of the ancient bulwarks, that wall of 1543 which kept 
safe the town. It is the wall that faces Rome. 

Along the vast screen are other figures, smaller 
and, by comparison, less significant. Among them are 
Cromwell, the courtly Coligny and plain, honest Robert 
Williams. There are also bas-reliefs depicting various 
scenes in the development of the Reformation between 
the years 1536 and 1602. All these are of interest, but 
they do not disturb the impression made by the four 
stern-faced men who stand with their backs to the wall 
that faces Rome. 



15 



Ill 

GENEVA : THE OLD STREETS 

THE heart of Geneva is L'lle, a little island on 
the Rhone, where the old bridge crossed between 
the two quartiers of the town. There was a bridge 
here before the days of Christ, for Julius Caesar found 
it stemming the river when he came to this part in 
B.C. 58. On the south of the Rhone at that date were 
vague people called the AUobroges, and on the north 
the equally vague Helvetes. Caesar had already dealt 
.with the AUobroges, but the Helvetes were giving 
trouble, were apt to swarm over the bridge and were 
indeed making themselves exceedingly offensive; so the 
Roman general caused the bridge to be broken down 
and thus stopped their activities. This transaction is 
recorded on a stone in the wall of the modern tower 
which now stands on the island. This tower, which is 
pleasing enough for a structure that has no reason for 
being a tower, occupies the site of a very old castle or 
keep which came to be, at one time, the Bastille of 
Geneva. Here was confined the heroic patriot Berthelier, 
and at the foot of the tower he was beheaded. This was 
in 1519, as a very theatrical statue calls to mind. 

The bridge opens upon the Place Bel Air, which was 
at one time known as the Square of the Three Kings 
from a tavern of that name. Professor Doumergue 

i6 



Geneva: The Old Streets 

states that in this spot the punishment of the pillory 
was administered as late as 1811.^ 

The Low Town is represented by a series of parallel 
streets which run east and west in a line with the quay. 
These streets were once the most picturesque in Geneva, 
for here were the penthouses. They have now been 
entirely rebuilt and are devoted to rows of ambitious 
shops. Even the quaint old alleys which, only a few 
years ago, crept between the Rue du Marche or Rue de 
la Croix d'Or and the Rue du Rhone have vanished or 
have been robbed of any interest. 

The Fusterie, the Molard and the Place de Longe- 
malle — now busy squares — were once inlets from the 
Lake where ships discharged their cargoes. At the Lake 
end of the Molard was a tower which (very much 
renovated) still remains. From the iron rod on the 
summit of its roof dangles a small key, a quite ordinary 
front door or cupboard key. This is still the subject of 
some surmise. Professor Doumergue thus comments on 
it : " The key may be that of the Rive Gate sent to the 
Duke of Savoy in 1602, concealed in a turkey, by a 
traitor." 2 A key, it might be added, forms a part of 
the arms of Geneva, but it is a large key, appropriate to 
a castle keep, and not to a china closet. 

The High Town is reached by steep streets which all 
inevitably lead to the Town Hall, the Cathedral and the 
Bourg-de-Four. Of these streets the Rue de la Cite has 
probably seen more of the past hfe of Geneva than has 
any other. At the bottom of the street is the fountain 
of the Escalade, erected in 1857. It is a pleasant-look- 

1 " Geneva Past and Present." Geneva. (No date. A most excellent 
guide-book, marred only by the lack of an index.) 2 Qp^ cit., page 21. 

C ly 



The Lake of Geneva 

ing monument of stone, alive with little bronze figures 
which are very busy in making vivid the tale they have 
to tell. It is placed where it is because on the night 
of December 11, 1602, when the attempt to seize 
the city was made, this small street was in the very 
thick of it. 

Near the fountain is the sole remaining penthouse 
in Geneva, of which mention has been already made 
(page 11). In the alley No. 18 is a fine example of 
the old balconied house. The building has four stories 
above the ground floor. Each of these is provided with 
a deep and spacious wooden balcony with well-turned 
railings. The four balconies are one above the other and 
represent the entries to as many different residences. 
In another alley (No. 19) is a good specimen of the tall 
staircase tower which is so common in old Genevese 
dwellings. In the Place du Grand Mezel, higher up the 
street, Bonivard lived after his release from the prison 
of Chillon. It is now a little Place of superior private 
houses. 

Near the top of the hill the Rue de la Cite changes 
its name to the Grande Rue. No. 40 in this street was 
the birthplace — as a tablet declares — of Jean Jacques 
Rousseau (June 28, 1712). The ancient house is replaced 
by a quite new building, belonging, appropriately enough, 
to a company of printers. About this point the Rue de 
la Pelisserie stumbles up into the Grande Rue. It is a 
narrow, dingy street of poor but picturesque houses, 
many of which are of some age. It is so steep a street 
that at the bottom it has recourse to a flight of steps in 
order to accomplish the ascent. At No. 11 is a doleful 
alley. It ends in a court that is mysterious and mean 

i8 




GENEVA : RUE CALVIN 



Geneva: The Old Streets 

and suggestive of a trap. Here the visitor is brought 
suddenly face to face jvith a mass of mouldy masonry. 
This is a part of the old Burgundian wall very dramatic- 
ally presenting itself. Near the top of the Rue de la 
Pelisserie is a large private house (No, 18). It is the 
best house in the street, possesses four stories, has a 
quite dignified entrance and the aspect of being well-to- 
do. It is not old, nor has it a claim to any architectural 
beauty, but it was here that George Eliot stayed from 
October, 1849, to March, 1850. She lodged with a 
family named Durade, the husband being an artist. She 
had a bed-sitting-room, took her meals with the Durades 
and paid for this lodging and board 150 francs a month, 
including light. She was the only lodger. She hired 
a piano. Lunch was at 12.30, dinner at 4 and tea 
at 8.^ 

Turning out of this street is the Rue Calvin, a sober, 
narrow street which is making its way to the Cathedral. 
It ends in a tiny square where are a fountain and a 
tree and where people come to rest ; for it is as quiet as 
a convent courtyard. In a house (No. 11), near to this 
little square, Calvin lived. It is needless to say that the 
house has been pulled down.^ It is represented now by 
a glaring new building which announces itself as the 
ofiice of the Board of Health and offers to test milk 
and other articles of consumption as well as to inspect 
weights and measures. It is remarkable that no memorial 
of Calvin exists, if exception be made of the question- 
able chair in the Cathedral — " not a room, not a piece of 
furniture," writes Doumergue, *' not even a gravestone." 

1 " George Eliot's Life," by J. W. Cross, London, 1885. 

2 It was demolished in 1706. 

19 



1; The Lake of Geneva 

In the Rue du Puits St. Pierre, leading out of the 
Rue Calvin, is the famous Tavel house (No. 6). This 
is one of the most perfect of the old city houses. It is 
a square, solid building, supported at one corner by a 
round tower with a conical roof. The windows have 
been modernized, although their original outlines are 
still evident ; but there is one little slit of a window with 
a pointed arch which seems to have been overlooked. 
There is a series of very curious heads projecting from 
the wall of the house, which has besides a fine courtyard 
with a winding stair and some admirable ironwork in 
the forms of a fanlight and a balcony. 

Before the Rue de la Cite finally reaches the Bourg- 
de-Four it changes its name for the second time and 
becomes the Rue de THotel de Vflle. In this street 
(No. 8) is the Turrettini house, which claims, vrith the 
Tavel house, to be one of the few remaining specimens 
of the great houses of Geneva. It dates from 1620. 
The Turrettini were Italians who came to Geneva as 
Protestant refugees and who, in their new home, raised 
themselves to positions of dignity and repute. The house 
is built of stone in the classical style and is impressive 
by its fine proportions and its great simplicity. 

Two other streets of interest clamber up from the 
Low Town to that common meeting-place, the Bourg- 
de-Four. They are the Rue Verdaine and the Rue de 
la Fontaine. At No. 15 Rue Verdaine, Henri Amiel 
passed the closing days of his life. He was that strange, 
lonely and melancholy man who poured forth the dreari- 
ness of his soul in the Journal Intime.^ It is a morbid, 
egotistical and unwholesome work which would have 

1 " Amiel's Journal." Translated by Mrs. Humphry Ward. London, 1889. 

20 




GENEVA : BOURG DE FOUR 



Geneva: The Old Streets 

been better left where it was found — locked up in a 
box. The house, which has not the merit of age, is now 
a warehouse. It looks towards the Cathedral (which 
stands above it) and faces that remarkable passage, the 
Degres de Poule or Hen Steps. The Hen Steps are 
entered through a rounded archway and mount up to 
the Cathedral. The steps, which form a stair as steep 
as a ladder, pass underneath some ancient buildings 
which were formerly stables and granaries. The Hen 
Steps date from 1554. 

At No. 32 Rue de la Fontaine is an old entry with 
a rounded arch that leads into an alley. The arch pierces 
the fragment of a wall as ancient as the doorway. The 
guide-book states that this wall belonged to the palace 
of the Bishop and that by this exit Pierre de la Baume, 
the last Bishop of Geneva, quitted the city on July 14, 
1533. 

The Bourg-de-Four is an irregularly shaped place 
on the summit of the town, surrounded by equally 
irregularly shaped houses. It has a modest fountain, is 
shaded by some old trees and is altogether an agreeable 
and picturesque part of the city. Here stood the ancient 
Burgundian castle which was destroyed by the Count of 
Savoy in 1320. The Bourg was for centuries the social 
and business centre of Geneva, and a very pleasant rally- 
ing point it must have been. It was the place where the 
fairs were held and where the chief inns were located. 
There are still some of the old inscriptions remaining, 
such as the Pomme d'Or 1734, and some old signs, such 
as that of the Sea Shell and the Black Horse. From 
the last-named it would appear that it offered " bon 
logis " as long ago as 1563. 

21 



IV 

GENEVA : THE OLD BUILDINGS AND THE ALLEYS 

THE Town Hall, near to the Bourg-de-Four, 
possesses considerable interest. Its history is very 
fully recorded in Professor Doumergue's work. 
Externally the building offers little attraction. It looks 
comparatively modern and presents the features of the 
municipal offices of any large provincial town. It has, 
however, an entry — built in 1617 — of greater dignity 
than the average municipal office attains ; while all along 
its front is a stone bench fit for Roman senators to sit 
on. In the wall to the left of the main entrance is a 
bronze tablet set up in 1892 to record a certain political 
achievement. It is in itself of no moment, but it 
replaced a tablet erected in 1558 in honour of the 
Reformation. This bronze is now in the north aisle of 
the Cathedral. In front of the tablet stood the pillory, 
and here too was a raised seat from which, as late as 
1829, criminal sentences were read out. 

On a certain day in June, 1762, the road at the 
foot of the tablet was the scene of a curious ceremony. 
A fairly brisk fire of faggots was burning in the street, 
and around it, but at a careful distance, was a crowd 
of people whose expressions denoted varying shades of 
indignation or disgust. In the centre of the circle was 
a man in a dismal costume who was busy tearing up 
books and throwing them on the fire. The man was the 

22 



Geneva: The Old Buildings 

common hangman and the books were the works of 
J. J. Rousseau. 

At the back of the Town Hall is the Baudet Tower, 
one of the oldest buildings in the city, for it dates from 
1455. It is a small, low, square tower of great charm 
and obviously of great age. The authorities of Geneva 
have done their best to make it look new, but only with 
indifferent success. Even the upper story, which was 
transformed in 1894, fails to spoil it. 

In the corner of the picturesque court of the Town 
Hall is a fine Renaissance doorway bearing the date 
1556. It opens upon the famous paved slope. This 
slope, which is unique in Europe, makes its way by a 
series of sharp turns to the top of the building — to the 
third floor, in fact. It has a vaulted roof, is paved with 
small cobblestones and is lit through a series of arches 
which open upon the courtyard. In order to realize this 
remarkable stairless stair one should imagine the syndic 
and his wife returning late in the evening from a ride 
in the country. They reach the Town Hall and, with- 
out dismounting, ride up side by side to the very door 
of their bedroom, where they alight from their horses. 

The one gracious room in the Town Hall is the State 
Council Chamber, which dates from the 15th century. 
It is small and in spite of its modern windows realizes 
very fitly the solemn room where Calvin imposed his 
will and pronounced before the awed council his edicts. 
The ceiling is a reproduction of that of the 16th century, 
while the panelling has been removed to the Museum 
and replaced by a commendable imitation. Round the 
walls are certain frescoes which were only laid bare 
during alterations made in 1901. They deal with Justice 

23 



The Lake of Geneva 

and depict the perfect judge as a gentleman with his 
hands cut off to show that he cannot — even if he would 
— accept a bribe. In this room also are syndics' staffs 
dating as far back as 1450. 

The Grand Council Chamber is comparatively 
modern, while the very ornate Alabama Hall is only of 
interest from the facts that the Red Cross Society was 
founded here in 1864 and that within its walls in 1872 
the Alabama claim was settled. 

Opposite the Hotel de Ville is the old market hall 
of 1415. It has been many times restored but is still, 
with its gaudily painted shutters, an impressive building. 
The open ground floor where the market was held is now 
void, while the upper part of the hall is (or was) the 
city armoury. 

Behind the Town Hall is the famous Promenade of 
La Treille. It is the oldest public walk in the city and, 
being placed on the ramparts, provides a magnificent 
view of the country to the south of Geneva. It is here 
that that poor solitary creature Amiel, the unsuccessful 
professor, was wont to pace to and fro pondering over 
the misery of life and inventing fresh expressions of 
melancholy for insertion in his diary. La Treille takes 
its origin from the early part of the 16th century. It 
has been frequently repaired and remade, as the dates 
(1557 to 1713) on the supporting wall serve to show. It 
is planted in all its length with chestnut trees, which 
make it the most pleasant and best shaded walk in 
Geneva. Not the least noticeable feature of the terrace 
is the bench which runs from one end of the parade to 
the other, for it claims the curious distinction of being 
the longest bench in the world. 

24 




GENEVA : TOUR BAUDET 



Geneva: The Old Buildings 

The Cathedral of St. Peter on the summit of the 
town is probably as well known to European travellers 
as St. Peter's at Rome or St. Paul's in London. Its 
two square towers and its graceful steeple form the 
landmarks of Geneva for miles around. The first church 
upon this site is credited with the date 1034. The 
present building had its origin in the 12th and 13th 
centuries and provides an illustration of the transition 
from the Romanesque to the Gothic styles. The very 
beautiful Gothic chapel of the Maccabees was constructed 
in 1406 and refashioned in 1878. The whole Cathedral 
has been much restored and affords an instance of the 
remarkable power the Genevese possess of making the 
most ancient building look new. The Corinthian portico 
which would do credit to a provincial corn exchange was 
added in 1759 to the permanent disfigurement of an 
otherwise consistent building. In the Cathedral is a 
plain chair " which it is supposed that Calvin employed 
in his pulpit." 

There are two other old churches in this part of 
Geneva — the Madeleine and St. Germain. The Made- 
leine, in the queer ill-shapen Place of that name, dates 
from the early part of the 12th century ; but was rebuilt 
in 1446 and in 1611 and very violently restored in recent 
years. Its gallant old tower (plastered over to make it 
appear new) has very ancient round-arched windows. 
The rest of the building is Gothic and is so '' done up " 
that it may have been built in the present century. The 
church of St. Germain is almost as old as the Madeleine. 
It is much hemmed in by mean buildings. Its one fine 
feature is its venerable square tower which has happily 
escaped the restorer. The rest of the edifice has, however, 

25 



The Lake of Geneva 

suffered severely at his hands. It is a church with a 
''past," for it has been in turn a butcher's shop, a 
Flemish chapel and an artillery barracks. 

Close to the Cathedral is the Auditoire. It has been 
a church since 1213, except for an interval in the 16th 
century when it was a smithy. It was at one time a 
chapel for the English residents in Geneva. In the 
Auditoire Calvin delivered his famous lectures. On the 
wall is a tablet which states that John Knox, ''pastor 
of the English residents and citizen of Geneva," preached 
in the chapel during the years 1555-7. The building, 
however, is so entirely modern in appearance that the 
announcement makes no impression, for it is impossible 
to associate this very present-day building with the 16th 
century and the great Scots reformer. 

The St. Gervais quarter of Geneva, to the north of 
the Rhone, presents little that is of interest. The old 
quartier, surrounded by its walls and towers, occupied 
a very gentle slope, the summit of which is represented 
by the top of the Rue Cornavin. Here stood — at the 
end of a bridge crossing the moat — one of the main 
gates of Geneva. It was by this gate that most travellers 
entered the town, and as the railway station is situated 
here it happens that they still enter by the same point. 
As the southern town has its church of St. Peter's, so 
this division of Geneva has its church of St. Gervais. 

This church dates from the middle of the 15th 
century. It has a fine tower with Romanesque windows. 
On the south face of the tower are the arms of the 
bishop, Francois de Mies, and the date 1435. The rest 
of the church adopts the Gothic arch, is built largely of 
brick, and presents, under the margin of the roof, a 

26 



Geneva: The Alleys 

cornice of modillons of the 15th century. The whole 
building has, however, been so thoroughly restored as 
to be of small interest and, being a Protestant church, 
is kept locked. On the outer .wall of the church is a 
tablet giving the names of those citizens of Geneva — 
seventeen in all — who were killed during the Escalade 
of 1602. 

The Rue du Temple, by the side of the church, con- 
tains many old houses of the humbler type. One house 
(No. 15, for example) retains its fine ogee windows and 
the pointed arch of its old doorway. The street as a 
whole is, indeed, one of the least modernized in Geneva. 

The alleys of old Geneva are fast disappearing, and 
with them will vanish a characteristic and intimate 
feature of the ancient city. There are certain alleys in 
the southern town which are worth exploring. The 
Passage des Barrieres, near the Madeleine, with its steep 
stairs and its suspicious twists and turns, is certainly 
picturesque ; while the alley that leads from No. 24 Rue 
Verdaine to the Rue de la Fontaine conveys a sense 
almost of alarm. A narrow subway, like a working in 
a mine, leads to a flight of stone stairs. At the bottom 
of the stairs the alley skirts the base of a round tower 
which looks into a dank yard. Then follow a dark tunnel 
and finally, with some relief, the daylight of another 
street. 

The most uncanny alleys, however, are on the other 
side of the Rhone. Notable are those that lead from the 
Rue du Temple to the bank of the stream, together with 
a few that slink out of the Rue Cornavin. They recall 
to mind every horrible story that is concerned with the 
darker life of a mediaeval town. Here is the narrow 

27 



The Lake of Geneva 

entry that one armed man could hold against a score. 
Here is the doorway, deep sunken in shadow, where the 
assassin with the cloak would wait, and there the steps 
that lead to the suspicious half-open door. There are 
square vents in walls, each guarded by an iron grille, 
that let the light into no one knows what chambers of 
horror. There is the courtyard, green with mould and 
dark as a pit, that is made a haunted place by reason 
of the dust-covered windows which spy into it story 
above story. These by-ways are deserted. They are 
not places to linger in, for there is an atmosphere of 
uneasiness about them which persists until the sunlight 
and the open air are once more reached. It needs but 
little fancy to people them with a hundred terrors, to 
imagine oneself chased down these nightmare lanes and 
to find no way of escape, to detect footsteps creeping 
round the corner, to see a white face at one of the dread- 
ful windows, or to have the silence of a hollow courtyard 
rent by a heart-chilling shriek. 



28 



V 

THE ESCALADE 

ONE of the most dramatic events in the history 
of Geneva was the treacherous attempt to take 
the town on December 11, 1602 — an adventure 
known as the Escalade. It failed; and the people of 
Geneva still continue to rejoice in their victory as each 
December comes round. No visitor can be long in 
Geneva vdthout being reminded, by monument, tablet 
or relics, of the Escalade. The aggressor was the Duke 
of Savoy. Savoy never for long relaxed its efforts to 
seize the city, for it was obsessed by the ambition. 

In 1602 Geneva and Savoy were at peace. Indeed in 
the early part of that year some notables of Savoy had 
visited the city in order to discuss certain matters of 
common interest. They were smiling and conciliatory 
gentlemen who made themselves most agreeable and who 
yielded to Geneva's demands with great bonhomie. 
They admired the city and were especially interested in 
the walls. The Genevese felt this to be a compliment, 
for they were very proud of their walls. That a Savoyard 
should be found at night measuring the height of the 
wall with a stone attached to a string was regarded as 
the act of an enthusiast. Spring, summer and autumn 
went by, but nothing was heard of Savoy except kindly 
greetings, and yet the Duke, unable to take Geneva 
by force, had resolved to sneak into the city at night 
and massacre the inhabitants. 

29 



The Lake of Geneva 

This unheroic enterprise was planned for the darkest 
night of the year — December 11, which in the calendar 
of to-day would be December 21. An army was to lie 
in wait in the outskirts of Geneva while a picked body 
of 800 men were to creep into the town by scaling the 
.walls. The leader of the scaling party was Brunaulieu, 
who knew the city well and hated it still better. His 
company was worthily equipped. Their helmets and 
breastplates were blackened so as to be less easily seen. 
They were provided with dark lanterns, with hammers 
to smash in doors, huge pincers to cut chains, petards 
and a horrible kind of two-pronged fork on a long pole. 
Laden on mules were ladders in sections which could 
be lengthened or shortened at will. These ladders were 
spiked at the foot for firmer holding, while at the top 
they were covered with felt to muflSie sound. Other 
mules carried hurdles and faggots to be laid in the moat, 
which was now at its lowest. 

Before the Porte Neuve was closed for the night a 
panting countryman hurried in to announce that he had 
seen troops advancing towards Geneva. He was curtly 
told in reply that he was dreaming and was advised to 
drink less wine. A little later a cavalier passed through 
the gate and repeated the news, adding that the men 
were of Savoy. Whereupon the officer of the guard, 
pointing to the great wall rising from the moat, asked 
sarcastically, "Are these Savoyards birds that they can 
fly over walls and ditches ? ' ' 

The plan of attack will be understood by reference 
to the sketch opposite this page. One party was to 
climb over the wall of the Corraterie, seize the Porte de 
la Monnaie, on the one hand, and the city side of the 

30 



-:a. 



Ji 



-^- 



<x; pC -=.- f^. P u . a_ ^ 3: 



The Escalade 

Porte Neuve on the other. A body of men hidden out- 
side the Porte Neuve were to rush that gate as soon as 
the signal was given that the advanced party had 
accompHshed its objects. The attack was timed for 4 a.m. 

A Uttle after midnight the men with the ladders 
crept across the Plainpalais towards the wall. It was 
nervous work, for it was pitch-dark and cold. The least 
noise alarmed them, even the stumbling of a mule or a 
gust of wind among the reeds. Once a hare darted across 
the line and so terrified the men in the van that they 
stopped to cross themselves and, with chattering teeth, 
to mutter a prayer. When the moat was reached a 
flock of wild duck was disturbed and dashed into the 
darkness with great quacking and flapping of wings. 
The guard at the Monnaie heard the flutter of these 
ducks, but merely remarked sleepily, " That otter is 
busy again." 

It may here be explained that the Corraterie (now 
the street of that name) was a rough level space between 
the town and the wall. The town was at this point 
represented by the backs of the houses that — on the 
other side — looked into the Rue de la Cite. There were 
here three gates, the Monnaie, the Tertasse and the 
Treille, the positions of which are still easily identified. 
There were certain alleys that opened at one end into 
the street and at the other into the Corraterie, as they 
do to this day. The site of the Bastion d'Oie is now 
occupied by the Rath Museum; the Porte Neuve stood 
on the town side of the present Place Neuve, while the 
wall beyond it was that against which the new monument 
to the Reformation is erected. 

The ladders were put in place with much whispering 

31 



The Lake of Geneva 

and trepidation, but little eagerness was shown in making 
the ascent. At the foot of the ladder stood a lean Scots 
Jesuit, named Alexander Hume, who exhorted those 
who were about to mount, giving to each a piece of 
paper with a text on it which would preserve the holder 
from shot, steel and sudden death. Hume, with a little 
ill-timed imagery, told the hesitating soldiers that the 
ladders were steps to Heaven. This was not reassuring, 
as the men did not wish to go to Heaven at that par- 
ticular moment and, moreover, preferred some other 
route than the ladder. However, they crept up shiver- 
ing and, climbing over the wall, hid under the parapet. 

When about 200 had taken this unsteady road to 
Paradise a soldier at the Monnaie Gate, hearing a noise 
in the direction of the moat, warned his corporal, one 
Francois Bousezel. The two started off with a lantern 
towards the ramparts, calling out, at each nervous step, 
"Qui vive?^^ They had not gone far into the black 
night when the corporal was felled by an invisible halberd 
which crashed upon him in the dark. He dropped dead 
— the first victim of the Escalade. He was a velvet 
merchant and lived in the Bourg-de-Four in that house 
which now bears, as a sign, a sea shell. His companion 
incontinently fired off his harquebus and fled back to the 
gate screaming " Alarme! alarme! Aux armesl " This 
was at 2.30 A.M. 

The guard at the Monnaie were aroused and a 
drummer boy, beating his drum, hurried into the town 
sending a thrill of panic through each silent street as 
he panted up to the Hotel de Ville. The Rue de la Cite 
was soon in commotion. Windows were thrown open, 
and every nightcapped head that popped out yelled the 

32 



The Escalade 

same cry into the empty lane : *' In Heaven's name what 
is the matter? " Bolts were shot back, doors were 
thrown open, and men, half-dressed and with any odd 
^veapon in their hands — a pike, a sword, a shovel or 
a pick — rushed into the street. Dogs barked, women 
screamed, lights appeared at every window, while the 
flare of torches cast fantastic shadows upon the balconied 
houses. In a moment, above the hubbub in the street, 
came a sound, deep, hollow and ominous, the clang of 
the great bell. La Clemence, tolling the alarm. 

The guard at the Porte de la Monnaie was soon driven 
back (they were only six in all), and the Savoyards rushed 
into the little Place de Notre-Dame du Pont crying 
''Vive Savoie!^^ This was a small triangular space — 
indicated by the present Escalade fountain — between 
three gates, the Monnaie opening on to the Corraterie, 
the City Gate at the bottom of the Rue de la Cite, and 
the Rhone Gate that led into the square now called the 
Place Bel Air. Between the two gates last named, and 
facing the Monnaie Gate, was a small low house that had 
once been the Mint. It is shown in old prints^ as a 
house of two stories only. Here lived Mere Royaume, 
a woman of 60, who became the heroine of the Escalade. 
The little place was crowded with the Savoyards, and 
no doubt from every window some article was hurled 
down upon them with curses, if only it were an old 
boot, a chair or a log of wood. Mere Royaume did 
better. She dropped out of her window a heavy iron 
pot or marmite — as much as she could lift. It fell upon 
the head of a soldier of Savoy and killed him. This first 

» " Histoire Populaire du Canton de Geneve." Geneva, 1905, page 57. The 
Monnaie Gate was destroyed in 1831. 

D 33 



The Lake of Geneva 

enemy casualty seems to have heartened the Genevese, 
for they poured into the place with a roar Uke thunder 
and drove the invaders back through the Monnaie Gate 
into the Corraterie. 

There was a house (No. 8) in the Rue de la Cite that 
belonged to Julien Piaget. It was entered by an alley 
leading from the street to the Corraterie. The door on 
the street side was locked, but the other door was open. 
Here the Savoyards made an entry, but were met by 
the Piagets' servant, one Abraham de Batista, who, 
armed with a sword, gallantly held the passage. Dame 
Piaget — a lady of resource — was alone in the house. 
She first of all barricaded the front door which opened 
into the alley and then threw into the street the key 
of the locked entry to the alley, so that the Genevese 
were able to enter. They found Batista dead at the 
alley end, and, stepping over his body, fell on the 
Savoyards and drove them back to the Corraterie. 

Like encounters took place all along the line. At 
the Tertasse Gate a sortie was made, led by Jean Canal, 
the syndic, a man of 63. He rushed ahead of his party 
armed only with a sword, but was at once cut down, 
while by his side was killed Bogueret, the architect of 
the Hotel de Ville. Their deaths were avenged ; for the 
Genevese fell upon the intruders with such violence that 
they drove them down the hill to the Porte Neuve. 

While all this confused street fighting was in progress 
Brunaulieu was making a fierce attack on the Porte 
Neuve. The twenty Genevese who composed the guard 
were soon dislodged and fled in disorder up to the Porte 
de la Treille. That gate gained, they shut and bolted 
the iron-studded door behind them and '* hoped for the 

34 



The Escalade 

day." The Savoyards pursued them up the slope, yell- 
ing, so far as their breath would allow, " Ville gagneel 
Ville gagneel " They found the door too stout for even 
a dozen hammers, so a cry was raised for Picot, the 
famous petardier, to come and blow it up. Picot came, 
planted his petard, and was about to light it when the 
portcullis fell with a fearful thud, crushing Picot to the 
ground beneath its iron heel. There he lay with the 
petard by his side and the fuse still aglow in his dead 
hand. A young soldier named Isaac Mercier, seeing 
the danger, had quietly mounted on to the roof of the 
gate and had set free the chain of the portcullis. By 
his wit the town was saved. 

While the Savoyards, with heated talk, were debating 
what next they should do a sound fell on their ears that 
struck them suddenly silent with their mouths agape. 
It was the boom of a cannon. An ingenious gunner 
had fired a culverin from the Bastion d'Oie along the 
wall with such good purpose that the ladders were 
swept down and fell into the moat. The retreat of the 
Savoyards was thus cut off. The men of Geneva, pour- 
ing out of the Tertasse and Monnaie Gates, fell upon 
them with shouts of victory. The women threw lighted 
straw out of the windows that opened on the Corraterie 
and so made the slope blaze like the day and the crowd 
of men glow like goblins in the glare of a furnace. 

The Savoyards gave way. Some escaped by the 
Porte Neuve; some jumped over the wall and were 
drowned in the moat; others surrendered and others 
were killed. By 5.80 a.m. all was over and Geneva was 
safe. In this gallant defence Geneva lost 17 killed ; but 
of the enemy 54 were dead — including BrunauHeu, their 

35 



The Lake of Geneva 

leader — while 13 were taken prisoners. The 13 were 
hanged on the Bastion d'Oie next day at two o'clock 
in the afternoon. Thus ended the Escalade. 

In the Geneva Museum are the relics of this stirring 
adventure, and very interesting they prove to be. There 
are the very ladders that were placed against the >vall, 
the helmets and cuirasses worn by the scaling party, 
their arms, the hammers and hatchets that they carried, 
the dark lanterns, the horrible two-pronged forks and the 
petards like massive gallon pots with handles. Here also 
are the helmet worn by the petardier Picot (it weighs 
nearly 25 lbs.) and the culverin that shot down the 
ladders. This notable piece of ordnance is about eight 
feet long, has a muzzle aperture of one and a half inches 
and is a breech-loader. In a separate case is Brunaulieu's 
very ornate sword, but Madame Royaume's cooking-pot 
is not to be found among the exhibits. 

Many portraits no doubt exist of those who did great 
things on the immortal night of the Escalade, but I 
know only two of them. The one is of the Duke, the 
other is of Mere Royaume. Madame Royaume's portrait 
is a head carved in stone over the portal of a quite 
modern building. The house stands on the site of a 
tower near the Monnaie Gate which was in the thick of 
the fighting and which was called, in after years, the 
Escalade Tower. It was ruthlessly pulled down in 1903. 
Madame Royaume's head is that of an elderly lady in a 
nightcap. A look of contentment beams on her deter- 
mined face as if there still was ringing in her ears the 
comforting sound of an iron pot coming in contact with 
an alien skull. 



36 



-A — 
FROM GENEVA TO THE DRANSE 



VI 

HERMANCE AND YVOIRE 

THE shores of the Lake from Geneva to the mouth 
of the Dranse are comparatively low. They form 
a somewhat steep bank behind Cologny, but farther 
east assume a gentler slope and, here and there, sink 
almost to a flat. The great mountains are far away and 
invisible from the steamer. Certain isolated hills, how- 
ever, springing from the plain, follow the coast line. 
These are Les Voirons running from the level of Geneva 
to Corsier, the Mont de Boisy between Hermance and 
Yvoire and the sharp ridge of AUinges, with its ruins, 
2^ miles beyond Thonon. 

The shores, all the way, belong to a luxuriant 
country which will remind an Englishman of Dorset or 
Devon or the banks of the upper Thames. There are 
no formal vineyards to mar the country by mathematical 
plots and formal lines. The vines are grown upon the 
branches of dead trees, are irregularly disposed and form 
a picturesque feature in the landscape. If the country 
has any distinctive character it is that bestowed upon it 
by the number of Lombardy poplars which are ranged, 
in companies and in sentinel-like ranks, along this 
beautiful green shelf. 

Cologny is a suburb of Geneva, a suburb of fine 
villas and formal gardens marked by every evidence of 

39 



The Lake of Geneva 

comfort and wealth. It was here, in the Villa Diodati, 
that Byron stayed; but as villas change in a hundred 
years it is well to turn to a contemporary print to see 
what manner of house it was in 1816. The plate shows 
a plain cottage-like building on a terrace facing the 
Lake. It possesses two stories with three windows on 
each floor, but it hardly attains to the ornate standard 
of the Cologny of the present day. 

Bellerive is another village de luxe. There was an 
abbey here which was founded in the 12th century and 
was destroyed by the Genevese in 1536. The pinnacle 
of the altar of this abbey is preserved in the Geneva 
Museum. It takes the curious form of a tower by the 
side of which stands a lady crowned who is almost as 
tall as the tower itself. At Bellerive in 1667 the Duke 
of Savoy established a port and citadel in order to 
encourage and protect the trade of Geneva. The present 
attitude of Bellerive would seem to protest against the 
absurdity of this project, for, like its neighbour La 
Belotte, Bellerive is given up to mere enjoyment, to 
boating and sailing, to lolling in hammocks and 
sprawling upon lawns. As for commerce, it might go 
hang. 

Of some other stopping places on this shore there is 
little to be said. Corsier, Anieres, Coudree-Sciez and 
Anthy-Sechex are scarcely more than names associated 
with a tiny pier, a cafe in a meadow, a bored douanier 
and a road coming down from the hinterland from 
villages which are out of sight and from crossways where 
a farm track or a lane stumbles into the route to the 
Lake. In the shade by the pier there may be a gig 
which has brought some country folk to the steamer 

40 




HERMANGE, FROM THE LAKE 




HERMANCE 



Hermance and Yvoire 

or an ox- wagon waiting for stores from Geneva. At 
Coudree-Sciez conditions are quite elemental. Here are 
merely a row of poplars, a landing stage, a hut and a 
road which skips coquettishly out of sight. Beyond these 
suggestions of human life there is nothing to dispel the 
idea that the country is deserted. Anyone who left 
the steamer here would apparently have to wander far 
before he came in touch with his kind. 

The places of less indistinctness in this section of the 
Lake are Hermance, Nernier, Yvoire and Beauregard 
and, near the Dranse, the town of Thonon. Hermance 
is a frontier village by the boundary which divides 
France from Switzerland. The place itself is Swiss. 
The frontier is not formidable. It consists of a tiny 
rivulet in a guUey of trees. In the summer-time a 
mouse could cross over from Switzerland to France with- 
out swimming, or a lady could make the passage with 
the assurance that the water would not cover the heel of 
a fashionable shoe. 

If those who visit the Lake were asked to indicate 
the prettiest village on its shores, I think that the 
majority would name Hermance. It is old-fashioned 
and unspoiled. It will call to mind the little riverside 
village of England as it was fifty years ago, before the 
day of the irreverent Bank Holiday and the yelling 
charabanc. 

There is little need to describe it. It is just 
a pretty village. Seen from the Lake it seems to be 
buried in a wood, so girt about is it by trees. Above 
the mass of green stand up a mediaeval tower, the 
bronze-coloured steeple of a church and the brown roofs 
of an ancient house or two. There is a child-like place 

4» 



The Lake of Geneva 

by the water's edge made to look grown-up by a few 
clipped plane trees and some benches for the village 
gossips. 

The road is wide and without a pavement. The 
cottages are covered .with wistaria or clematis. Along 
the outside gallery of the house is trained a vine and 
over the grey wall a pear tree lolls. On a strip of grass 
by the wayside fishing nets are drying. Here a flower gar- 
den makes a sudden blaze of colour like a burst of music ; 
while across the way is a farmyard in agreeable disorder. 

There are yet other things in the village — an old 
stone cross in the shadow of a tree, a splashing fountain, 
a cafe half -hidden by oleanders in tubs and, that delight 
of every village, the bewildered general shop with its 
confusing smells. A breeze from the Lake, idling down 
the street, brings with it the consciousness of an unseen 
stretch of water together with the perfume of roses, the 
smell of burning wood in a kitchen and the odour of 
roasting coffee from the courtyard of the inn. 

The town was founded in 1025 by Hermengarde, 
Queen of Burgundy, and it is from this lady that it 
derives its name. Later, the Lords of Faucigny fortified 
the place, surrounded it with walls and with a moat, and 
built the castle of which one fine tower still remains 
intact. Here in the 13th century the fair Beatrice of 
Faucigny held her court, took the town under her care 
and — about the year 1290 — established and endowed the 
church. 

The town was attacked and despoiled by the Bernese 
in 1536 and again in 1589. On the latter occasion 
Hermance very rashly resisted; with the result that the 
Bernese practically destroyed the place, pulling down the 

42 



Hermance and Yvoire 

walls, demolishing the church and leaving only the great 
tower of the castle standing, since that was beyond their 
power to destroy. As the more adventurous spirits in 
Hermance had the habit of pouncing upon Genevese 
boats and were, in fact, no better than pirates, the port 
was filled up and the once thriving town and fortress 
were reduced to a mere fishing village and, uninten- 
tionally, to a place of much fascination. 

The tower stands upon a hillock just above the 
village. It is round, is of immense size and has recently 
(1913-14) been restored .with great consideration. It was 
built in the 13th century and provides as vivid an idea 
of the donjon of old days as any tower in Savoy. The 
present church appears to have been erected in 1637, 
some years after the disastrous visit of the Bernese. It 
is a fine building, the decoration of which is effective 
and in exceptional taste ; but it has been so ruthlessly 
restored as to obliterate the interest that it must once 
have possessed. By the side of the church is the Chapel 
of St. Catherine, now mutilated beyond recovery. It 
is a good specimen of the architecture of the 15th century 
and is fully described by J. Mayor in his well illustrated 
work.^ 

Nernier is a modest village or little town that has 
seen better days, but is still a pleasant place by reason 
of the many queer old houses that are to be found in its 
almost silent streets or springing from the water's edge. 
It has an ancient church with a somewhat remarkable 
stone steeple. The chateau that once belonged to 
Godefroy de Bouillon, the crusader, is now represented 
by a modem building. It is curious how persistently 

1 ** L'ancienne Geneve." Geneva, 1896, ^ 

43 



The Lake of Geneva 

isolated little incidents cling to certain places until they 
comprise almost its sole store of history. The incident 
always recorded about Nernier is to the effect that 
Lamartine, the poet, stayed here in 1815, that he lived 
in the house of a boatman named Favre at the charge of 
20 sous a day '' nourriture compriSy^' and that he always 
spoke of these days as the happiest of his life. He seems 
to have been looked after by the boatman's very kindly 
daughter — a young woman of 25 — who fed the poet on 
eggs, milk and cheese to his complete comfort. 

From its history Nernier is shown to have been a 
place of some account even in Roman days. It once 
had a castle of its own, stout walls and a couple of gates, 
and was happy in that it was possessed by the beautiful 
Beatrice of Faucigny. Among the illustrious persons 
who have been Lords of Nernier was (in 1433) Nicod de 
Menthon, an ambassador to England.^ The church is 
mentioned in a papal bull of the year 1250. It was a 
dependency of the great abbey of Filly near by, of the 
ruins of which only the faintest traces now exist. 

Yvoire stands at the entrance to the Petit Lac, 
where the wider expanse of water suddenly narrows. 
The distance from Yvoire to the point of Promenthoux, 
on the opposite shore, is hardly three miles. Yvoire 
was thus in old days the Gibraltar of the Lake. A great 
many visitors, and among them many artists, come to 
Yvoire every year, and the inhabitants never cease to 
wonder why they come, for the place is no other than 
a small village and a poor one. The residents would 
probably say that if the stranger wished to see the glories 

1 *' Memoires et documents de TAcad^mie Chablaisienne," Tome xii. Thonon 
1898. 

44 




A GATE OF YVOIRE 




STREET IN YVOIRE 



Hermance and Yvoire 

of the Lake he should go to Montreux, where everything 
is new, where the latest fashions are in vogue and where 
the whole place appears to be bursting with the good 
things of life. 

Yvoire, poor as it is, has yet a little of that wealth 
which is beyond the dream of avarice and which money 
bags cannot purchase. It is a little fortified mediaeval 
town which has still around it its ancient walls and is 
still entered by its ancient gates. Its castle still seems 
to be keeping watch over the strait, while there is a 
tower in Yvoire that in height and strength is formidable 
still and only needs its portcullis to be brought back to 
become again an entry hard to force. Moreover the 
family who, as Lords of Yvoire, held the castle 260 years 
ago, hold it still. 

The original walls of Yvoire were built in the 14th 
century and have been many times strengthened and 
restored. The town gates, with their pointed arches, 
belong probably to the 16th century, while the age of 
the founding of the castle svould go back to a period 
before even the walls were made. A Pierre of Yvoire 
figures in the records of 1264 as giving certain woodland 
rights to the convent of Filly ; while in 1289 Antelme 
d'Yvoire is found doing homage — and no doubt very 
agreeable homage — to the fair Beatrice of Faucigny. 

Yvoire was a place that bred stout warriors and bold 
sailormen. Its boys played at soldiers as soon as they 
could go alone. The young women could handle a boat 
as deftly as a man. The mother would leave her baby 
to carry powder kegs to the battlements; while the 
housewife .would stay her cooking to boil water to be 
poured on any who dared assail the gate. If accounts 

45 



The Lake of Geneva 

be true, Yvoire was at one time a nest of pirates and the 
terror of the Lake. When a merchant craft on its way 
to the Rhone sighted a covey of boats pulling out from 
the town all hope was lost, unless a delivering wind swept 
down from the east; for the rhythm of the oars of the 
boats of Yvoire was as ominous a sound as the tramp 
of marching men. 

Yvoire, it appears, has many times changed hands. 
In 1366 it was sold by the Count of Savoy to Antelme 
de Miolans. In 1402 it passed by marriage to the 
Ravoree family, and in 1494 ,was sold to Georges 
d'Antioche, and later (in 1634) to Antoine Fornier.^ 
Finally, in 1655, it came into the possession of the 
famous family of Bouvier, and it is that family >vhich 
holds it now. 

A Ferdinand Bouvier was Lieutenant Governor of 
Chillon in 1588 (see Chapter xxv). His brother, Jehan 
Bouvier, was the redoubtable Jehan of the Iron Arm. 
This hardy but rather mythical warrior had lost a hand 
in battle and had replaced it by an arm of iron. It 
would seem that he was one of the defenders of the 
castle of Yvoire in 1600, many years before that fortress 
passed into the hands of his family. Jehan of the Iron 
Arm is the subject of a famous romance^ in which he 
is described as Jean d' Yvoire, but the title is unfounded, 
as the chateau did not come into the possession of the 
Bouviers in his lifetime. 

The two gate towers of Yvoire are on the south or 
land side of the town. In ancient days they bid defiance 
to all on the high road who would dare to enter unasked, 

1 " Memoires, etc., de TAcad^mie Chablaisienne," loc. cit. 

« " Jean d' Yvoire au Bras de Fer," par J. Fazy. Paris, 1840. 

46 




■^^K-" 



V 




YVOIRE : THE CHURCH 



Hermance and Yvoire 

but now on each mediaeval postern is merely a gentle 
warning to the effect that motor cars are not allowed 
within the walls. Between the two gateways runs the 
ancient wall of the town with its battlements still in 
evidence. At the foot of the wall is the moat, which is 
now devoted to the culture of potatoes. 

There is nothing in Yvoire that could be called a 
street. Its lanes are narrow, loose and very confused. 
They are also very dirty. The houses are of a humble, 
despondent type, are old and decrepit, and therefore 
picturesque. Their general untidiness is excessive and 
they are patched and re-patched like an old shoe. The 
church has been modernized, has a flat ceiling, square 
windows and walls covered monotonously with plaster. 
The copper-coloured steeple, however, is charming and 
makes an attractive object when Yvoire is viewed from 
the Lake. That the church has been ''done up" in 
recent years is evident, since Read, writing in 1897, 
speaks of it as " an old church lit by loopholes." 

The chateau rises from the water's edge. It is a 
square, simple and solid block of masonry with a flat 
roof and with windows which belong to various periods, 
for some are pointed and some are square. At the four 
corners of the building are the remains of round turrets. 
Upon the land side of the chateau are a square tower 
with a pointed roof and the remains of a moat. There 
are no battlements and no gun emplacements; but, on 
the other hand, ivy and climbing roses give an air of 
much gentleness to the hardy old fortress. There are 
certain gardens in the ancient town and many trees, 
which very graciously and charitably temper its poverty 
and bestow some comfort upon its extreme old age. 

47 



VII 

THE TRAGEDY OF BEAUREGARD 

THE stranger who wanders in the district between 
Hermance and Nernier will be struek by the 
persistence and apparent pride with which all 
signposts point the way to the Port of Tongues. It 
may be true that " all roads lead to Rome," but 
certainly in this area they all lead to the Port of 
Tongues. There .would seem to be no possibility of 
escaping this haven; for to the undecided there is no 
alternative between the Port of Tongues, on the one 
hand, and the rest of the universe on the other. 

In approaching this much proclaimed place one 
expects to come upon a wharf of stone where cranes 
are wheezing laboriously, where there are bales of mer- 
chandise and lusty men rolling barrels to and fro. There 
should be also ropes and anchors and ships in that 
deshabille which they assume when lying in port. 

Such impressions will not be realized, for Tongues, 
when reached, is found to be represented by a clump of 
poplars in a silent field, from the edge of which a very 
fragile pier ventures out into the Lake. There is no 
sign of human life and the road stops abruptly at the 
beach, as if overcome by the shock of a cruel disillusion. 
Among the shadows on one side of the road is a cafe, 
in front of which are a few tables and chairs. On the 

48 



The Tragedy of Beauregard 

other side is a dwelling house vaguely defined. The 
commerce of the place is represented by a heap of stones 
for the mending of roads. Such is the Port of Tongues 
to which the signposts point with such assurance. 

The real interest of the Port of Tongues is vicarious 
and depends upon the fact that it adjoins the famous 
Chateau of Beauregard and is, indeed, on the edge of 
the wood in which that castle lies. Beauregard stands 
in a clearing open to the Lake, where it occupies the 
crest of a green slope that rises gently from the beach. 
It is a very ancient place, for it was a stronghold as long 
ago as 1326, and its square tower, with walls three metres 
thick, is beUeved to belong to that period. It has been 
much added to and more than once rebuilt, notably in 
the 15th century, as is suggested by the date 1573 on 
the tower of the chateau.^ Until the 16th century 
Beauregard was held by the family of de Bailey son. 
It then belonged to the Allinges, and finally to the 
illustrious house of de Costa, in which family it still 
remains. 

The most famous member of this family was the 
Marquis Henri Costa de Beauregard, who occupied the 
chateau in the latter end of the 18th century and was 
one of the victims of the French Revolution. He kept 
a diary, and his memoirs, translated and edited by 
Charlotte M. Yonge, provide a remarkably graphic 
picture of the sufferings of a noble family during the 
time of the Terror.^ 

The marquis married in 1777, and was with his wife 
and family at Beauregard when the Revolution burst 

1 " Memoires, etc., de 1' Academic Chablaisienne," Tome xii. Thonon, 1898. 
* ** A Man of Other Days." London, 1877. 
E 49 



The Lake of Geneva 

forth. The shrieking hordes who were to wipe out the 
old regime and remake the world fell upon Beauregard 
in 1792. The marquise and her children fled to Lausanne 
across the water. The marquis and his favourite son 
Eugene joined the residue of the loyal army then hold- 
ing out precariously in the mountains. He distinguished 
himself as an officer, so far as distinction was possible 
in an army whose deeds were doomed to be inglorious 
and whose inevitable fate was to fail. 

His great delight was in his son. In all his letters 
Eugene was the one bright figure among a gloomy com- 
pany, and to have him with him was the solace of his life. 
With the marquis also was his old servant Comte who, 
although paid no wages and subjected to all the miseries 
of a hopeless campaign, declined to leave his master or 
to abate any detail of his service. On one terrible 
morning Eugene was killed in an unprofitable skirmish, 
and the grief of the poor father was pitiable to witness. 
It was a sorrow that never ceased to cloud his days. In 
the meantime the marquise and her children were living 
in Lausanne in " frightful poverty " which she bore with 
great courage, for she was — as her letters show — a very 
gallant lady. She thus describes the wretched lodging 
in Lausanne : " The children and I live in a room with 
a red tile floor, faded curtains, three horse-hair chairs, 
an old white stove and the little table upon which I write 
to you. . . . What does that signify? And yet, Henri, 
I have imder my window a poor little rose tree that has 
sprung up by chance among the nettles, like your image 
among my tears." She does not add — as she might 
have done — that her life was a constant fight against 
starvation. 

50 





BEAUREGARD 



The Tragedy of Beauregard 

In 1796, after four years of misery, the marquis was 
free to join his wife at Lausanne. He came accompanied 
by the faithful Comte. The journey from Turin to 
Lausanne by the St. Bernard Pass occupied twelve days. 
They reached the gates of Lausanne towards evening. 
ITie marquis found his wife and children waiting for him 
in the road. The meeting was most pathetic for, besides 
the death of their boy, so much that was terrible had 
happened since they parted at Beauregard. He hardly 
knew her. He simply saw, standing outside the gate, a 
lady in black who was as pale as death and who, as he 
approached, cried ''Henri! Henri! " and threw herself 
into his arms. ''When they came to themselves they 
looked at one another like strangers. She was an old 
woman with wrinkles and grey hair. He was bent and 
would have been taken for an old man." 

The first intent of the marquis when he had settled 
at Lausanne was to visit his old home at Beauregard, if 
he could elude the minions of the Republic. He knew 
that the chateau had been pillaged from cellar to attic 
and partially wrecked, that a portion had been burned 
and that it was tenantless. He started one morning in 
a sailing-boat, taking with him an old friend and his 
servant Comte. They met with a contrary wind, so that 
it was not until nearly sundown that they reached the 
chateau. 

They landed on the beach and walked up the familiar 
path to the house. The house was silent and evidently 
deserted. The rosy light of the setting sun fell full 
upon it, showing the black streaks left by smoke and 
flame, the gaping windows and the half-charred shutters 
hanging from the walls. In the once trim courtyard 

51 



The Lake of Geneva 

.were masses of burnt wood, fragments of shattered 
furniture, rags that were once fine curtains, begrimed 
bits of clothing, tiles and heaps of broken glass. 

The door was open, for it had been battered in. The 
marquis entered with a shudder and jvalked from room 
to room, stumbling over collections of rubbish and of 
fallen plaster. The memories that the place recalled 
were the memories of a lifetime, but they were all so 
marred as to become a mockery. Treasure after treasure 
was missing. In the place of his wife's portrait was a 
dark square on the wall. Sacred cupboards had been 
ransacked and everywhere were ruin, defilement and 
outrage. "This was her room," the marquis muttered 
as he passed along the corridor, ''and this was mine.'' 
One room he would not enter, but he asked Comte to 
go into it alone. It was the room of his dead son 
Eugene. 

As the three were leaving the chateau in the 
uncertain light they were startled by a voice that issued 
from the depths of the building. It was an unearthly 
voice that screamed " Off with you! Off with you! I 
am master here. Oh ! what a fire it was when they 
burned it down." They all recognized the voice as that 
of a poor idiot boy named Jacques whom the marquise 
had looked after and provided for. He apparently had 
alone clung to the desolate building, which he haunted 
like a demented spirit. 

The three made their way to the boat and pushed 
off. They lingered for a moment before hoisting the 
sail, in order to look once again at the old house which 
was now but a black shadow among the trees. As they 
looked, standing up in the boat bare-headed, there rang 

52 



The Tragedy of Beauregard 

out in the silence of the dusk the voice of the idiot 
boy shrieking the '' Marseillaise." Such was the home- 
coming of the noble Marquis of Beauregard. 

When the Terror had passed away the marquis and 
his family were able to return to Beauregard. The old 
chateau was restored, and under its roof he and his 
devoted wife ended their days in peace. 

The chateau, as already stated, is on a green slope 
open to the Lake. On all other sides it is surrounded 
by trees. That part of the building which faces the 
water is plain and stolid and as glum as the back of an 
institution. It is of three stories, all of which are pro- 
vided with square windows. Its walls, of a ruddy grey, 
are covered with ivy. The entrance to the house is on 
the east side, where is a comfortable courtyard between 
two segments of the building. The block to the left is 
made up of the old donjon, a huge, low square tower 
surmounted by a conical roof of most amazing height. 
Indeed, viewing the structure as a whole, there would 
appear to be almost as much rodf as tower. The main 
building is made picturesque by a series of oval windows 
below the eaves, such as were common in French man- 
sions about the end of the 18th century. The west side 
of the house, with its small projecting tower looking out 
upon a little formal garden, is the most intimate and 
homely part of the chateau. The beach where the 
marquis landed is very pretty. It is a shelf of grey 
pebbles shaded by trees, and among the trees is the small 
path that he followed up to the house. 



53 



VIII 

THONON 

THONON, once the capital of Chablais, a fortress 
and the residence of princes, is now a place of 
small account. Its chief characteristics are 
negative. It possesses neither *' sights" nor present 
interests. It is simply a provincial town that has seen 
better days and that has sought, in its old age, the quiet 
of obscurity. The Romans thought well of the spot, 
since they planted a town here. The Burgundians also 
were attracted by it, for, in the course of their violent 
lives, they made of Thonon a kind of robbers' castle or 
marauding outpost. But before even the Romans came 
or the Burgundians carried red riot through the land 
there was a lake village by the shore, built on a forest 
of piles by a nameless people. 

The surroundings of Thonon explain how it came to 
be chosen as an abode of men. Here is a raised plateau 
that sweeps inland for miles till it comes to the foot of 
the guardian hills — the Mont d'Armonnaz and the Bois 
de la Comte. Towards the Lake it ends in a green bank 
which slopes suddenly to the beach. It must always have 
seemed that this edge of the plain, this crest of the bank, 
was a fitting place whereon to build a town. Here 
Thonon stands. On the east of the plateau is the 
majestic gorge of the Dranse ; while on the west the 
plain stretches towards Geneva, becoming narrowed as 

54 



Thonon 

it goes by the massif of Les Voirons and of Mont Saleve. 
The whole plateau is magnificent, for it is luxuriantly 
green. The far hills, with their vast precipices, are 
capped with snow; while in the centre of the plain, on 
an isolated ridge, stand — clear-cut against the sky — the 
romantic ruins of AUinges. The view of this fair country, 
as approached from the west by the white road from 
Excenevex is, I think, one of the most appealing of its 
kind on the Lake, especially as in the foreground there 
glistens the blue bay of Coudree. 

Thonon is not a ''season place," although it has its 
waters and its baths and is, indeed, proclaimed at the 
railway station to be "Thonon les Bains." It is one 
of those comfortable, contented towns that is busy all 
the year round vidth its own little affairs and does not 
encourage the stranger to intermeddle with its joys. 

Thonon was from early years a fortified town. Its 
great walls and towers were built about the year 1290, 
and at the same period the castle was constructed. The 
castle became the residence of the Counts and Dukes 
of Savoy, and on that account Thonon became the most 
important place in Chablais. A plate of the castle as 
it was in 1540^ shows a vast and imposing building on 
the brink of the plateau with a square donjon in the 
centre and a round tower at each bend of the wall. The 
castle, after violent changes of fortune, was taken by 
the French and Swiss in 1589, and was finally pulled 
down in 1626 after having been nearly destroyed by 
fire. There were five gates to Thonon,^ but of these 

1 " Memoires et Documents de rAcad^mie Chablaisienne." Tome xxvi. 
1913. 

* Map of 1682 in '* Histoire de Thonon," par L, E. Piccard. Tome i. Annecy, 
1882. 

55 



The Lake of Geneva 

and of the ancient walls no trace remains. The wall on 
the east followed the Rue des Granges and that on the 
west the present Boulevard Carnot. From this dis- 
position it will be seen that the old town was small and 
its confines very limited. 

Thonon, owing to its strategic position near the 
banks of the Dranse and to its importance as a seat of 
the ruling prince, figures prominently in the wars of the 
Middle Ages, sometimes with credit, sometimes without. 
It .was swayed on occasion by this faction and on occasion 
by that. The attitude of the inhabitants in the presence 
of acute political movements was not always marked by 
a sense of proportion nor did it always express itself 
logically or with dignity. In this respect Thonon was 
not peculiar. 

For example, at the time of the French Revolution, 
the spirit that prompted that upheaval spread to Savoy 
in the form of a blind revolt against all constituted 
authority and anything that implied control. The 
patriots of Thonon, after due discussion, concluded that 
they could best express their approval of the policy of 
the time by liberating the town drunkard who had been 
sent to prison by the arbitrary governor.^ So they 
attacked the gaol door with bludgeons and hammers, 
battered it in, and scuttled down the corridor to find the 
oppressed winebibber. They found him; smacked him 
on the back; led him forth noisily into the street and 
proceeded to carry him round the town with shouts of 
triumph. 

Surely there was never in the world such an emblem 

1 " Memoirs of the Marquis de Beauregard." Edited by Charlotte M. Yonge. 
London, 1877. Vol. I, page 127, 

56 



Thonon 

of liberty, of fraternity and of the heaven-born equality 
of man as this trembling drunkard, clinging with nervous 
hands to the arms of a tavern chair, with terror sweat- 
ing from his bloated face as he rocked to and fro on 
the shoulders of an eddying mob, like a piece of wreckage 
in a torrent. They carried him round Thonon for the 
immoderate period of four hours, stopping, no doubt, for 
refreshment at various wine shops in their progress. At 
the end of the fourth hour the drunkard became so limp 
that he was of no further use as an emblem, for an 
emblem must be erect like a knight's pennon and not 
a thing like a sack of meat. 

The site of the castle is the present Place du Chateau, 
an open square on the edge of the bank, shaded by many 
trees and affording a most gracious view. Just to the 
east of the place stood the convent of the Capuchins, 
built in 1602, but now indicated only by some remains 
embodied in the house which occupies its site. There 
were four other convents in Thonon, of which that of 
the Minimes alone calls for notice. It was founded in 
1636 by Albert Eugene de Geneve, Marquis de LuUin, 
and is now the hospital of the town. It is a fine 
Renaissance building, the windows of which are orna- 
mented by elaborate stonework. The cloister that 
surrounds the court-yard is worthy of a palace. In the 
wall of the colonnade is a stone with the inscription, 
" Icy gist Gaspard de Geneve, Marquis de LuUin," and 
the date June, 1619. 

In the Rue Chante-Coq — now but a mean street — 
is a 16th century house, with a handsome stone doorway 
and elegant windows, that was once the residence of the 
Guillet-Monthoux family. No. 17 in the same street 

57 



The Lake of Geneva 

was the house of a syndic of Thonon — one Pierre 
Former — who was converted by St. Francis and who 
entertained the great preacher within these walls. The 
Hotel de Ville, a quite worthy building, stands in an 
old-world square that is pleasant to come upon, for it 
recalls the scenery of an 18th century romance. In the 
square is a curious stone fountain in the form of a 
column of unusual type. It is reputed to date from the 
18th century, but has obviously been much renovated 
since that time. 

The church is not commendable. Its facade is mean 
and otherwise expressionless, its interior irritating by 
reason of much restless and trashy ornamentation in the 
taste of two centuries ago. There is an old font by 
the entry which was used by St. Francis, and also a 
handsome organ-loft of wood and a pulpit with carved 
panels of much merit. From this pulpit St. Francis 
preached during his turbulent mission in Chablais. One 
interesting feature of the church is the crypt. It is 
entered with some difficulty (and with the aid of a 
candle) through a trap-door under the pulpit. The crypt 
has a cove roof supported by low columns and rounded 
arches. The capitals of the pillars are remarkable by 
their eccentricity. The structure is accredited to the 
11th century, although some assign to it an earlier 
date. The place is filled with rubbish and is in woeful 
disrepair. 

Opposite the church is a quaint Mttle old house with 
an overhanging roof and on the ground floor a shop of 
the mediaeval type in the shadow of an arch. It is 
occupied by a fumiste and maker of stoves. As the 
place is dark and cave-like and filled with strange things 

58 




THONON : ST. FRANCIS S SHOP 




RIVES BELOW THONON 



Thonon 

in metal it could pass for the shop of an alchemist or 
a maker of coats of mail. On one of the shutters of the 
shop is fastened a cross of iron. It was in this shop 
that St. Francis took refuge from the violence of the 
Protestant mob, after preaching in the church of 
Thonon, and the cross of iron serves to keep in memory 
his timely deliverance.^ 

Near the foot of the bank upon which Thonon stands 
is the village of Rives. That it is a fishing village would 
be evident in the dark. It is made up of little old houses 
with outside stairs, wooden galleries and overhanging 
roofs. The life of the place appears to be carried on in 
the balconies or in the road, and the inhabitants to be 
mostly children. The road is steep, and at the top of 
the village is a stone basin for running water whence 
the supplies of the place are drawn. Any who would 
realize the village home of Jack and Jill, the kind of hill 
they climbed and the source at which they filled their 
pails should come to Rives. There is nothing lacking 
to complete the scene of that never-to-be-forgotten 
disaster. 

At the bottom of the village, by the water's edge, 
is an immense, stolid building with white walls and 
ancient windows, many of which are closed by bricks. 
It is a sour-looking old place which seems to resent the 
indignity of being now used as a storehouse for plaster. 
On the roadside is a low, square tower looking as surly 
as a long neglected tower can look. There is another 
tower, smaller and less depressed in aspect, on the Lake 
front. This is the Chateau de Montjoux-St. Bernard. 
It belonged in 1405 to the noble family of Greysier, 

1 " M^moires, etc., de TAcad^mle Chablaisienne." Tome xix, page 168. 

59 



The Lake of Geneva 

and then to the lords of Ravoree, who ceded it in the 
16th century to the monastery of Montjoux founded by 
St. Bernard of Menthon. It jvas burnt in 1557 and 
attacked and damaged during the Bernese invasion of 
1591. It remained, however, in possession of the monks 
until the Revolution of 1793, when it was seized and 
sold as national property to the family of Favre of 
Thonon. Since that date its downfall appears to have 
been rapid. 

From old prints it may be gathered that it has 
changed little in its general aspect, except that it once 
had a court-yard which reached to the water's edge and, 
on the west, a small chapel with a bell gable. Of neither 
court-yard nor chapel does any trace remain; while the 
construction of the harbour has altered the aspect of the 
little cove upon the margin of which the chateau stood. 
The large tower by the road was called the Tour des 
Langues because in old days the monks demanded from 
the inhabitants the tongue of every beast slaughtered in 
Rives. This was a very moderate tax, for in England 
at the present day they would have taken half of the 
entire animal. 



6o 



IX 

ROUND ABOUT THONON 

OUT of the plain behind Thonon there arises 
suddenly a lofty ridge with a sharp edge like 
that of a chipped flint. On the jagged summit 
stand the ruins of AUinges — the most romantically 
placed ruins to be found along the Lake shore. The 
walls of the great keep can be seen for miles both from 
the water and the land. The castle would seem to realize 
that spectral chateau on a bleak cliff that figures in 
Gustave D ore's pictures and that belongs to the .world 
of myths and legends. 

Allinges is made up of two castles, each on a separate 
peak, together with an ancient chapel. The earlier 
castle — the Chateau Vieux — is on the eastern extremity 
of the ridge ; the less ancient — the Chateau Neuf — is on 
its western point, where is also the chapel. In the gap 
between the two peaks was the long extinct village of 
old Allinges. 

The older castle and the village were founded by the 
Burgundians in the 5th century.^ They held it for a 
hundred years, when they were driven out by the 
Franks, who, fighting all the while, remained masters 
of AUinges until 879. No traces of the works of these 
periods remain. In 888 the new Burgundian Kingdom 

1 " CEuvres historiques de M. I'Abb^ Gonthier." Thonon, 1901. Tome i. 

6i 



The Lake of Geneva 

was constituted by Rodolfe I. He seized AUinges, and 
his son, Rodolfe II (912-937), rebuilt the Chateau Vieux, 
added, at a later period, the Chateau Neuf and recon- 
structed the village between the two hills. A few relics 
of these Burgundian castles are said to be discoverable. 
It will be understood how it has come about that an 
edifice erected a thousand years ago is still described as 
'' new." The Burgundians held on to AUinges until the 
dynasty came to an end in the days of the last king, 
Rodolfe III. 

In or about 1073 the stronghold fell into the posses- 
sion of the rich and powerful family of AUinges (hence 
the name of the place), who held it for some 200 years. 
In the 13th century the Ijords of Faucigny^ were 
masters of the hUl, and a little later it passed into the 
hands of the Counts of Savoy. The history of this 
fortress — the most formidable in the country — involves a 
turbulent story which is far too long to follow. It was 
the scene of frequent alarms and periodic fighting, was 
many times besieged and many times changed masters. 
There was a period when the so-called old castle 
belonged to one baron and the new to another and when 
the two kept up a constant fight at dangerously close 
quarters. In 1536 the Swiss took the place and the 
banner of Berne was hoisted on the height with a cheer 
that could be heard at Thonon. In 1567 AUinges once 
more belonged to Savoy, but in December, 1600, it was 
besieged by the French, on which occasion the garrison 
surrendered and were allowed to march forth with drums 
beating and with all the honours of war. Once more 

1 One of the three provinces of Haute Savoie, the others being Genevois 
and Chablais. 

62 



Round About Thonon 

AUinges returned to the Dukes of Savoy ; when in 1703 
Victor Amadeus II — he whose story is told in Chapter 
XV — finding himself confronted by a new war with 
France and fearing that AUinges .would be hard to hold, 
dismantled the castles, blew them up and left them in 
the ruin in which they are found to this day. 

Before their destruction there .was little distinction 
in the matter of age between the one castle and the 
other. An old plate conveys a good idea of the double 
fortress as it appeared in 1682.^ It shows a castle on 
either hill, both complete and both pertaining to the 
same period. They are very strongly fortified and are 
surrounded by a high machicolated wall with square 
towers at intervals in its circuit and with heavy outworks 
on the side of approach. From the centre of the 
Chateau Vieux rises a lofty keep, the remains of which 
form the most prominent feature in the ruins as they 
now appear. 

Rodolfe II when he built the Chateau Neuf built 
also, on the same part of the hill, the little chapel which 
is still standing undisfigured and, indeed, but Uttle 
changed. This 11th century chapel is one of the oldest 
in Savoy and has naturally been made a national monu- 
ment. It is very plain, very small and very dark owing* 
to the fact that the windows which light it are little 
more than slits deep sunk in the wall. It has a plain 
cove roof and the chancel is represented merely by an 
alcove or shallow apse. The walls of the recess are 
decorated by frescoes accredited to the 13th century, the 
subject being the Benediction of Christ. Above the roof 
is a demi'tour for the bell. Attached to the chapel is a 

1 " CEuvres historiques de M. I'Abbd Gonthier." Thonon, 1901. Tome I. 

63 



The Lake of Geneva 

monastic building, with a round-arched arcade, which 
rather swamps the tiny church. 

A memorable day in the history of the chapel was 
September 14, 1594. On that day two strangers, simply 
clad and without baggage, came on foot to the draw- 
bridge of the castle of AUinges. One of them, a youth 
of 27, with a very gentle face, was Francis, son of 
the Count de Sales. ^ The other was his cousin, Louis 
de Sales. They were both priests, although not dressed 
in the garb of their order. They brought letters to the 
governor of the castle, from the Duke of Savoy and others, 
begging that Allinges would help in the work for the 
reconversion of Chablais. It was on this ridge that the 
mission began, for on the next morning St. Francis 
celebrated his first Mass in the little chapel. By 1598 
or 1600 nearly the whole of Chablais had returned to the 
Cathohc faith. 

In approaching Allinges from Thonon it appears at 
first incredible that buildings could ever be erected where 
the ruins stand, for the ridge on the side towards the 
town is a rank precipice. It remains, however, to be 
discovered that there is an approach on the south side. 
The path leads through a stone gateway and by various 
outworks to the hill on which the chapel stands. The 
remains of the Chateau Neuf lie scattered among orchards 
and plots of grass where sheep are feeding. To the east 
is the mighty donjon of the Chateau Vieux, a mass so 
stupendous and so solid as to defy destruction. The 
ruins cover an immense area. Besides the walls there 
are the remains of towers, of bastions, of posterns and 

1 St. Francis was born at the Chateau of Sales, near Annecy, in 1567, and 
died at Lyons in 1622 in the gardener's cell of the Monastery of the Visitation. 

64 



Round About Thonon 

of covered ways, some green with ivy, some bare as a 
bleached bone. In the cleft of the rock between the two 
main hills the old town hid. During centuries of war 
it must have been as uneasy a dwelling as a robin's nest 
in a gun casemate. Where it cowered there is now a 
wood, in the quiet depths of which its very stones are 
as completely lost as are its troubles. 

Just outside Thonon, near the Evian road, is the tiny 
hamlet of Concise. It is a place of no mean standing, 
for in 1093 it possessed a hospital, a castle and a priory 
of Augustins ; while in 1250 it figures in a bull of Pope 
Innocent IV. ^ Concise is worth turning aside for a 
moment to see on account of its fascinating little church. 
This church is of great age, is the size of a small cottage 
and has a steeple with a quite ridiculous window in it. 
Within is a nave, with a flat ceiling like that of a room, 
and a choir with a faintly pointed roof. A minute 
chapel has been built out on one side, while over the 
entrance is a gallery with a kind of nursery rail. A more 
charming specimen of the little village church would be 
difficult to find. 

At Concise and on the brink of the steep bank which 
looks down upon the beach stood the Tower of La 
F14chere. When the French and the Swiss invaded 
Chablais in 1589 they laid siege to the castle of Thonon. 
The castle had a large garrison and was believed to be 
impregnable ; but either from treachery or from cowardice 
the commandant surrendered before the assault was even 
commenced. Thonon having been disposed of, the vic- 
torious army marched on to La Flechere. As this 

1 " Regeste Genevois avant I'Annee, 1312." Geneva, 1866. " Haute 
Savoie," par A. Raverat. Lyons, 1872. 
F 65 



The Lake of Geneva 

insignificant place had a garrison of only 18 men it was 
assumed that it would surrender even more promptly 
than Thonon. To the indignation of the Swiss leader 
the captain of the tower declined to yield and, further- 
more, was not only defiant but inclined to be rude. The 
tower was surrounded by a host strong enough to capture 
a place four times its size; but it proved not easy to 
take and, owing to the lack of artillery, it began to be 
a question if it could be taken in any reasonable time. 

The Swiss general was furious and swore he would 
hang the whole of the eighteen before dinner as a lesson 
to the rest of Savoy. But the dinner hour came and 
passed and the captain of the tower was still jeering 
from the battlements. The next step was to burn the 
gallant men out of their stronghold, and to effect this 
the adjacent buildings were set on fire. The tower 
became enveloped in fiames and it was soon evident to 
the garrison of La Flechere that there was nothing for 
it but to rush out of the building and surrender. This 
they did. 

The whole of the eighteen were not hanged; but six 
of the number were selected for this particular treat- 
ment. It so happened that on the face of the tower 
was a projecting beam which would serve as an excellent 
gallows. The six were led out and lined up under the 
beam with their backs to the tower, just about the time 
of the setting of the sun. A difficulty arose as to an 
executioner. Whereupon one of the six, a corporal — in 
order to save his own neck — offered to hang his five old 
comrades. He hanged them one after the other, but 
asked the pardon of each in turn before the fatal moment 
came. The fifth and last man refused his pardon. The 

66 



Round About Thonon 

corporal, however, put the rope round his neck and 
pushed him off the ladder as he had done with the rest 
of his late friends. As he was about to descend, pleased 
with his own happy escape, a ball from a Swiss musket 
passed through his breast. 

In old prints La Flechere is represented as a small, 
square building with a tower on either side of it and 
around it a battlemented wall.^ As years went by the 
tower fell into decay and a Capuchin convent was built 
on its ruins. The convent, as it now appears, is a 
rambling building with square towers and with little 
about it that is of interest except the old garden in 
which it stands. 

Between Concise and the river is the Chateau of 
Thuyset. It is a small chateau, but one of the most 
charming on account of its picturesque features and the 
care with which it has been preserved. It is old, for it 
was built in 1490 by the Allinges. After passing through 
other hands it was occupied in 1673 by the Lucinges, 
and finally, in 1688, came into the possession of the 
distinguished family of de Foras, to whom it still belongs. 
The building is square, has a very lofty roof with dormer 
windows, and is supported by two graceful towers, the 
survivors of the four towers with which the chateau was 
originally provided. 

The River Dranse, where crossed by the Evian road, 
is a dull river. There is more bed than river, for 
in the summer the stream is so small as to be almost 
lost in the intolerable desert of ash-grey stones. The 
Dranse comes down from the mountains through a most 
beautiful rocky gorge, some miles in length, which is 

1 ** Groot Stedeboek, van Piemont en van Savoye." The Hague, 1725. 

67 



The Lake of Geneva 

much frequented by tourists in charabancs, who seem to 
be curiously fascinated by the very name of ''gorge." 
On either bank of the river will be seen the remains of 
the old bridge of the Middle Ages. This bridge was con- 
structed in the 15th century, was no less than 656 feet 
long, and carried in its course some 29 arches. It was 
blown up in 1814 during the war that was raging at that 
period. The bed of the river has been very much 
narrowed in modern times by the construction of an 
embankment, with the result that the greater part of 
the mediaeval bridge is now on dry land. Its roadway 
is narrow, being about 10 feet wide, and is protected on 
each side by a wall which is rapidly tumbling away. 
The road would serve still for the packhorse and the 
litter, but not for the blustering motor lorry or the 
charabanc. 



68 



X 

RIPAILLE 

ON the level promontory which lies between the 
Dranse river and the Bay of Thonon stands the 
famous Chateau of Ripaille surrounded by a 
gloomy wood. A full history of Ripaille, of the great 
people who dwelt there and of the strange things they 
did, is furnished by M. Bruchet in a fine volume of some 
600 pages. ^ 

Ripaille owes its origin to a remarkable woman, 
Bonne de Bourbon, wife of Amadeus VI of Savoy. 
Amadeus was a semi-mythical being who might have sat 
at the Round Table of King Arthur by the side of 
Launcelot of the Lake. He was generally known as the 
' ' Green Count ' ' by reason of the colours he wore at a 
certain tournament. To judge from her portrait the 
Lady Bonne was small and slight, very pretty and very 
pert. She had large blue eyes and her fair hair was 
arranged in two heavy plaits, one on either side of her 
face. Her head-dress was a little flat cap that looked 
like a wreath, and her general aspect that of a very 
forward schoolgirl of fifteen. Although she was so small 
and although she wore her hair in plaits, she was a 
masterful lady. She managed her adventurous husband, 
her son, her daughter-in-law and everything and every- 
body about her. 

1 " Le Chateau de Ripaille," par Max Bruchet. Paris, 1907. 

69 



The Lake of Geneva 

She had a love of the country. She hated walls and 
battlements, drawbridges and moats. She found the 
sombre castles in which she lived so many prisons, and 
thus it was that she came to the Forest of Ripaille, 
where she built a wooden house as a kind of hunting 
lodge. She began it in 1871, but did not enter into 
possession until six years later because she was short of 
money. As the funds of the family improved she added 
to Ripaille, for she was never still and never without a 
scheme in her head. In 1384 she made great additions. 
Being a good housewife, she built a spacious kitchen and 
provided a cellar worthy of it. Being of a religious mind, 
she erected a wooden chapel, and then — and this is very 
characteristic of her — put up a dovecot. Still she went 
on adding building after building, just as she wanted 
them, until the place must have looked like an encamp- 
ment of huts and booths at a fair; for when she had 
finished Ripaille could accommodate 300 persons and 200 
horses. 

Now this fascinating and determined lady who hated 
walls yielded at last to the womanly weakness of vanity 
and — out of what must be called mere swagger — built a 
tower in front of the entrance. This was the beginning 
of the great Chateau of Ripaille. 

In 1383 the Green Count died, and his son, iVmadeus 
VII, reigned in his stead. Bonne the Imperious ruled 
over the new count as she had ruled over his father. 
She now came to be known — in spite of her little 
stature — as Madame la Grande to distinguish her from 
her daughter-in-law, the new countess, who went 
humbly by the name of Madame la Jeune. Bonne's son 
Amadeus, who was born in 1360, was called the ''Red 

70 



Ripaille 

Count," because in some friendly combats with English 
knights he had become so covered with British blood as 
to merit the title named. No hint is given as to the 
depth of tint he might have attained had the combats 
been unfriendly. 

The Red Count .was involved in what Bruchet calls 
" The Drama of Ripaille." This drama is a most curious 
medley ; for it involves, as essential factors, a prince, a 
quack doctor, a wild boar and a suspected hair- wash. 
In the Forest of Lonnes, which lies between Thonon and 
AUinges, there was a devil-possessed wild boar which, 
by the violence of its disposition and the intemperance 
of its actions, became a terror to the country and, in 
after years, the subject of a popular romance.^ The 
boar, having resisted both prayers and exorcisms, was 
approached by a body of hunters under the leadership 
of the Red Count. This was in the summer of 1391. 
The boar was killed by one of the escort, but the count, 
in the course of the hunt, was thrown against a tree 
and injured in the shoulder, according to one authority, 
in the leg according to another. He was taken to a 
farm in the forest called La Chavanne and was later 
carried to Ripaille. 

It may be said, by the way, that the Forest of 
Lonnes, although much reduced in size, is still a glory 
of the country and that there is still a farmhouse at La 
Chavanne. It is a lonely old house covered with wistaria 
and made picturesque by an outside gallery of wood, 
and a great grey roof in which are very quaint dormer 
windows. Over one door is a quotation from Virgil and 
over the other some lines from Horace. The windows 

1 " Le Sanglier de la Foret de Lonnes," par J. Replat. Annecy, 1840. 

71 



The Lake of Geneva 

have little panes of glass and are flanked by antique 
sun-shutters. The house is surrounded by very old farm 
buildings and shaded by three great chestnut trees. The 
whole place is charming and as beautiful a picture of old 
Savoy as could be imagined. 

Just before the time of the accident to Amadeus a 
doctor named Grandville had wormed his way into the 
Court. He was a charlatan of the ripest type and a liar 
of exceptional gifts. His cunning was so subtle and his 
blandishments so soft that even the Lady Bonne — clever 
as she was — was deceived and allowed him to prescribe 
for her, but happily without ill effect. 

The count, when laid up by his injury, sent for 
Grandville. The smiling, insidious scoundrel came to 
Ripaille and brought with him so many medicines, 
ointments and electuaries that it needed two packhorses 
to carry them. Bruchet gives a list of these preparations, 
the very perusal of which is enough to promote an illness 
in the imaginative. Now when Grandville reached 
Ripaille and stepped, like a dancing master, into the 
sick room, unctuously rubbing his hands, the count made 
no complaint about his injury, but expressed his alarm 
at certain symptoms of old age that had beset him, viz. 
weakness, pallor and baldness. The count was then 
only thirty-one. 

Grandville — with his sleeves tucked up — set to work 
on the bald head as the most tangible of the symptoms. 
He started with a wash which not only caused great 
pain to the prince, but burnt the hands of the barber 
who applied it. Not a hair responded. He then shaved 
the head in order that the next wash might penetrate 
to what are known to the laity as ''the pores." This 

72 



Ripaille 

wash smelt so horribly that both the patient and the 
barber had to hold their noses. Then came three other 
washes of varying degrees of offensiveness. Still there 
was no sign of a single hair. Then the expert rubbed 
the scalp with such vigour that it became red " comme 
ensanglante.^^ Still no hair. Finally a very hot plaster 
was applied, to be worn four days and to be followed by 
other plasters and other washes. Still no hair ventured 
to show itself, although one would have thought that 
the treatment could produce a growth of hair on the 
head of a statue. 

In addition to the local treatment Grandville gave 
the count medicines and pills. The pills were very large 
and black and horrible to the taste. However, the count 
took them. He only rebelled when he was offered a 
draught of " Extract of Unicorn," because his friends 
considered that preparations made from that animal were 
apt to be unreliable and too dangerous to be employed 
on a reigning prince. 

The poor count, who had swallowed enough medicine 
to start a dispensary, became weaker and weaker ; until, 
towards the end of October, it was evident that he was 
dying. Grandville was dismissed and the regular Court 
physicians called in. They declared that Amadeus had 
been poisoned by the quack ; while certain courtiers were 
quick to add that the assassination was prompted by a 
noble named Othon de Grandson of Aubonne, who was 
hostile to the prince. Amid the hideous hubbub that 
followed, amid the clamour of charges and counter- 
charges, of venomous hints and bold lying, Amadeus, the 
Red Count, passed out of the world. The date of his 
death was November 2, 1391. 

73 



The Lake of Geneva 

The party with the loudest voice declared that the 
prince had been poisoned, while the partisans of Grand- 
son and indirectly of Grandville asserted that he had 
died of the effects of the accident at the boar hunt. 
From the ample documents furnished by M. Bruchet 
I am disposed to think that the death of the count was 
due to neither of these causes, but rather to a certain 
blood disorder prevalent at that age. 

Grandville fled, was arrested but escaped, and was 
again captured. He died comfortably in prison in 1895. 
Grandson was imprisoned in the Castle of Chillon, and 
although subsequently released, his estates of Aubonne 
and of Coppet were confiscated. He was killed in a 
duel in 1897. Poor Bonne — the lady of the dovecot 
and the hair plaits, was — although quite innocent — 
involved in the political troubles that followed her son's 
death, and was obliged to leave Savoy. She died in 
exile in the year 1402. 

Amadeus VIII, who succeeded his father, the Red 
Count, was a man of learning who was deeply devoted 
to religion. He entirely altered the aspect and character 
of Ripaille. In 1410 he established there a priory and 
chapel to St. Maurice and then set to work to build a 
castle for himself with fitting fortifications. Bonne's 
disorderly collection of buildings was swept away, all but 
her ''great tower by the old gate." In the course of 
his building he added other round towers, making seven 
in all, constructed a deep moat, erected a drawbridge 
and laid out the great courtyard. This work he seems 
to have completed in 1484, in which year he founded at 
Ripaille the Order of St. Maurice. The first tower to 
the right of the entrance into the courtyard was reserved 

74 



Ripaille 

for the doyen of the knights of St. Maurice. It was 
later known as the Tower of Pope Fehx, for in 1439 
Amadeus was elected Pope under the title of Felix V. 
This tower still stands. 

Amadeus resigned the papacy and abdicated as duke 
in 1449,^ was made Bishop of Geneva, and died in that 
city in 1451. He was buried at Ripaille. When the 
Bernese invaded Chablais in 1536 Ripaille was taken, 
the monastery was scattered, the tomb of the duke was 
broken up and the church turned into a stable. Later 
" a gentleman of Evian " collected the duke's bones 
and, taking them to Turin, deposited them, in 1576, in 
the Cathedral of St. Jean. 

In 1589, when the Swiss again invaded Chablais, 
Thonon capitulated without a struggle, but Ripaille, 
with its garrison of 600 men, resisted. After a siege 
of only 48 hours the castle was taken, was looted with 
great thoroughness and was then set on fire. It burned 
for two days and was almost wholly destroyed, four only 
of the seven towers surviving. These four towers remain 
to this day. Later, when Ripaille once more came into 
the possession of Savoy, a Carthusian monastery was 
established here and appropriate buildings erected 
upon the site of the old ruins. In 1762 a church was 
added to the monastery. Ripaille remained with the 
Carthusians until the French Revolution in 1793, when 
the monastery was broken up and the buildings allowed 
to decay. In 1809 the chateau was purchased by Pierre 
Louis Dupas, the famous French general. He was a 
native of Evian — having been born in a house opposite 
the church — and lived at Ripaille until his death in 

1 He was the first count to assume the title of Duke of Savoy. 

75 



The Lake of Geneva 

1823.^ It remained in the family of Dupas until 1892, 
when it passed into the possession of the father of the 
present owners. 

A picture of Ripaille as it appeared in 1866 is given 
in Wey's volume of lithographs.^ It shows a mass of 
houses of various periods and of quite humble pretence. 
In the centre is the church of 1762, an ungainly building 
with a facade of pilasters in grey marble surmounted 
by the cross of Savoy. The four towers are to be seen, 
but the main building is entirely without interest or 
architectural character. 

Thanks to the kindness of M. Paravicini I had an 
opportunity of seeing the chateau of to-day. It is a 
new building, sumptuously constructed and adorned, and 
is, with little doubt, the finest of the various chateaux 
that have been erected on this site. Certain it is that 
Ripaille has never stood in the midst of so glorious a 
garden. The four ancient towers of Amadeus, with 
their machicolations and their pointed roofs, are incor- 
porated in the modern building. The church of 1762 
has been pulled down. The moat has been turned into a 
rose garden and the great courtyard thrown open as it 
was in old days. Traces of the three towers that com- 
pleted the total of seven are still visible, as are also some 
fragments of the ancient walls together with certain 
stone entries. 

On the other side of the courtyard is the old 
monastery, a low building consisting of a central block 
and two wings. It is covered by a fine wide-stretching 
roof and evidently has been but little altered. It dates 

1 ** Generaux Savoyards," par A. Anthonioz. Geneva, 1912. 
* " La Haute Savoie," par Francis Wey. Paris, 1866. 

76 



Ripaille 

from the end of the 16th century. In the outer wall, 
and at about three feet from the ground, certain cow- 
horns project at intervals from the masonry. They are 
supposed to have been worked in among the stones by 
the monks to keep off the devil, and, although they are 
now much decayed, they are no doubt still as efficient 
as they have ever been. There are some fine stone door- 
ways in the monastery and some handsome old windows. 
The ancient corridors and the monks' cells are still 
retained. 

The most charming feature of this building, however, 
is the monks' kitchen. It has been left untouched and 
is as solemn and as full of shadows as a great cave. The 
vaulted roof is black with the smoke of centuries. The 
enormous fireplace still parades the hook, the chain and 
the mighty pot which were essential parts of the Gar- 
gantuan cuisine of the time. The uncouth implements 
for preparing food by the hundredweight would make a 
modern dyspeptic shudder. On the walls hang mighty 
ladles and tongs and forks that would lift a carcass. 
The bins for flour, the tubs, the tankards for wine, the 
cruse for oil, the bellows, the meat-hooks, the heaps of 
logs and the font-Uke trough for the water suggest the 
kitchen of a giant and his hungry family; while the 
massive stone floor would bear the weight of a traction 
engine or of a cook of that tonnage. 

The kitchen stands triumphantly for surfeit and 
plenty, for the mighty appetite and the fat of the land. 
What a picture it conjures up of the roaring supper 
table and the rows of burly figures on the benches, the 
heavy jowl and the tireless jaw, the slobbering mouth 
and the heaving Falstaffian paunch ! 

77 



XI 

TWO LEGENDS OF RIPAILLE 

IN the park of Ripaille and by the water's edge is 
the Tour du Noyer. Being visible from the passing 
steamer and being of pecuhar appearance it excites 
the interest of the lake-side tourist. It is an old round 
tower of two stories covered with ivy. The windows and 
the door are square. It was probably once a watch- 
tower as well as a pharos to guide ships round the cape. 
The tower is roofless, and the curious feature about it 
is that a great walnut tree grows from its interior and, 
mounting high above its summit, shades it like an 
umbrella. To this unusual circumstance the tower owes 
its name. 

The Legend of the Nut Tower is as follows. A boat- 
man was rowing a stranger across the Lake to Ripaille. 
The stranger — a very silent man — had with him a box 
which it was plain to see contained treasure. The boat- 
man very naturally threw his fare into the Lake and 
drowned him. He landed chuckUng on the beach and 
carried the box into the tower, where, after gloating 
over its contents for a while, he disposed himself to 
sleep. He was awakened from his dream of showers of 
gold by no less a person than the Devil. 

The Devil informed him, as he sat shivering on the 
ground, that he himself was the stranger with the box 

78 




RIPAILLE: THE NUT TOWER 



Two Legends ot Ripaille 

and that he had adopted this disguise in order to 
encourage the delightful crime of murder. He further 
informed his late boating companion that he proposed 
to kill him and to bury him in the tower and that from 
his wretched body would grow a walnut tree as from 
a seed. The boatman, who was no gardener, expressed 
httle interest in this novel method of tree-culture and 
remained unconcerned when the Devil added a further 
botanical fact to the effect that for one hour once a 
year the nuts on the tree would be changed to diamonds. 
It is a matter of regret with local speculators that no 
one has as yet hit upon the exact hour when the 
jewellery is in bloom. My visit to the tower was 
equally ill-timed, for I certainly missed the advantageous 
moment. 

Before the Devil proceeded to operate upon the 
boatman, who was dodging about in the tower like a 
rat in a pit, he became facetious and indulged in a 
pleasing pun upon the words noyer and noye, which 
humour, no doubt, the boatman was too worried to 
enjoy. 

In the courtyard of the chateau and opposite to the 
Tower of Felix V was a spot where, in winter, the snow 
was apt to collect and to linger after the rest of the 
yard had ceased to be white. It was a son of General 
Dupas who was especially impressed by the phenomenon 
which he had frequently noticed. There was a tradition 
that a well existed at this spot and that into it a young 
monk, who had committed a hideous crime, had been 
thrown alive. It was believed that on this account the 
snow was reluctant to melt, so that, once now and 
then, a pall of white might be laid over the body of the 

79 



The Lake of Geneva 

unhappy man. There was evidence that a well existed 
in the courtyard in 1484. Excavations were made in 
1903, and at the spot where the snow had always tarried 
the relics of a well were discovered. Among the mass 
of earth and stones and other debris that filled it was 
found the skeleton of a young man so disposed as to 
suggest that the body had been thrown headlong into 
the pit. 

By the side of the bones were a pocket knife of a 
very ancient type, a chaplet of beads and, as a pendant 
to the same, a tiny human skull in ivory — a memento 
mori. These are precisely such things as are likely to 
be found in the pocket of a monk. I have seen these 
relics and cannot rid my mind of the belief that there 
is some truth in the tale they appear to tell. 



8c 



FROM THE DRANSE TO THE RHONE 



8i 



XII 

A DESERTED SPA 

THE most picturesque and most impressive part of 
the Lake shore is that which Ues between the 
River Dranse and the Rhone. After the Dranse 
and its melancholy flat are passed the coastline becomes 
gradually Higher and Higher, forming a huge green bank 
some nine miles long which, before it ends, attains at 
ThoUon to no less than 1,800 feet above the level of the 
Lake. Looked at from below this heaving slope is like 
the back of a great green wave as it would appear to a 
swimmer in the trough behind it. It seems as if, at its 
summit, it must be curling over to break at the foot of 
the mountains which are still some miles away. These 
mountains are dominated by the grey peak of Dent 
d'Oche, which, until the summer comes, is covered with 
snow. 

The bank is brilliant with every shade of green, from 
the holly-green of the thicket of firs to the lettuce-green 
of the rising corn, a bank of meadows and woods, of 
cherry orchards and of chestnut groves, with, here and 
there, a hamlet with its pointed spire and, here and 
there, a white- walled villa, a garden of many colours, 
or the brown roofs of an ancient farm. About Thollon, 

83 



The Lake ot Geneva 

above Meillerie, the bank and the mountains meet, and 
from Meillerie eastwards the shore of the Lake is one 
gigantic precipice, cleft, more than once, from summit 
to foot by a fierce ravine and, in the rest of its length, 
a rampart half pine-forest and half cliff. At the end 
of the Lake it forms a flank of that stupendous portal 
through w^hich the Rhone sweeps out into the open. 

The first place met with, after the Dranse is crossed, 
is the village of Amphion. It is a shy, old-fashioned 
hamlet lying curled up at the foot of a hill. It is some 
way from the shore and the hustling high road. Since 
that road was made and since the steamers came Amphion 
would appear to have drawn a cloak over its head and 
to have dropped out of the scheme of things. It is a 
sun-browned place with an unassuming prettiness of its 
own and has probably changed but little during the last 
two hundred years. By the pier and at some distance 
from the old village is the modern Amphion, where are 
the cafe, the restaurant and the postcard shop without 
which the tourist would find the world a place devoid 
of purpose. 

About a mile from Amphion along the Evian road 
is a spring. It is not easy to find and, when found, is 
not difficult to forget, and yet there was a time when 
its waters were the most famous in Savoy, a time when 
the Spa of Amphion was the resort of the " smart set " 
of the day and of all who (well or ill) wished to be 
regarded as people of quality. This was long before the 
waters of Evian were discovered. Now the Amphion 
spring is about three miles from Thonon and one and 
a half miles from Evian, and as there was no accommo- 
dation for visitors at Amphion village those who would 

84 



A Deserted Spa 

take the waters had to stay at one or other of the towns 
named. Evian being the nearer was the better patronized. 

It was in the 18th century that the spa at Amphion 
reached the summit of its glory. It was then imperative 
that all those who claimed to be '' in society " should 
repair once a year to Amphion. The Amphion spring 
is chalybeate, and its medicinal value depends — as does 
the value of other spa waters — largely upon the faith 
of the visitor, the dictates of fashion and the docility 
of the doctor. 

A very curious little book was written in 1697 on 
the subject of the Amphion spring.^ It is a cheerful, 
chatty and discursive work enlivened with verses. It 
professes to give an analysis of the water and a report 
as to its healing powers ; but it wanders off into a history 
of Chablais from the days of the Romans and an account 
of Evian from its very infancy. The analysis is not 
profound and is, indeed, almost pathetic in its innocence. 
It was accomplished by dropping powdered oak-apples 
into the water and noting the change of colour and in 
emphasizing the fact that the addition of certain potent 
chemicals caused no ''fermentation,^^ 

From the physician's report it appears that the 
spring had a wide range of usefulness. It could purify 
the blood — whatever that may mean — it could cure boils 
and asthma, sciatica and sleeplessness, gout and goitre, 
as well as tremblements and herezipere. It also seems 
to have been a remedy for laziness. For example, le 
sieur Pomel of Evian, who for twenty years could not go 
out of the town except on a horse, regained the use of 
his feet after drinking the water for fifteen days. Then, 

1 " Mercure Acatique/' par Pere Bernard, Gardien d'Evian, 1697. 

85 



The Lake of Geneva 

again, a lady of Margensel who had long been unable to 
go to church managed to walk there after eighteen days 
of water drinking. Her case was evidently a little more 
obstinate than that of sieur Pomel. Some of the cures 
were very quick. Thus Michel Bassay, who had been 
blind for five years, recovered his sight in fifteen days. A 
woman of Divonne, aged 30, who had been paralysed 
for nearly eighteen years, in all but her tongue and her 
arms, was able to walk in the regulation fortnight. A 
little undue, and possibly unkind, emphasis is laid upon 
the fact that her tongue was never paralysed during this 
trying illness. 

Amphion spa in the season was a place of great 
activity and display and was thronged by a gaily-dressed 
and pleasure-seeking company. There was a regular 
service of public vehicles from Thonon, on the one side, 
and from Evian on the other. Crowds came in private 
carriages; a great number in boats, while those who 
considered a walk of a mile and a half to be part of the 
*' cure " gave animation to the Evian road with their 
bright frocks and many-tinted parasols and their lively 
chatter. The pump-room was by the beach. It was a low 
building with a colonnade of white pillars. On the Lake 
side was a terrace and on the land side a lawn. There 
now stands in its place a modern hotel with the facade 
of which, however, the old white colonnade is blended. 

An ancient print shows the spa as it was in the days 
of its triumph. The garden is buzzing with men and 
women dressed in the latest fashion of the time. They 
walk to and fro, simper and bow, take off their hats, 
kiss finger tips, spread themselves upon benches or gossip 
together in groups, snuff-box in hand. In the road is 

86 



A Deserted Spa 

a crowd of carriages and coaches, of cabriolets and gigs, 
together .with a lounging company of coachmen and foot- 
men, of postilions and maids. For colour and vivacity 
it may be a parade in Bath, in the days of Beau Nash, 

The spa is now without honour even in its own 
country. An obscure lane, overgrown with weeds, slinks 
down to the water's edge. There, under the shadow of 
a great chestnut tree, are the once famous spring and 
its pavilion. The pavilion is a small octagonal building 
of red brick and plaster with eight round arches. It has 
a pointed roof covered with gold-green moss. Within 
two streams of water from metal pipes drop, with a 
pretty tinkle, into a stone basin. Thence the water 
overflows on to the ground and, escaping by the door- 
way, runs down to the beach, staining the pebbles as 
it goes with the tint of rust. 

On the wall over the spring are inscribed these words 
— Aquse Mex Prosunt Homnibus Infirmis Omnium 
Nationum,^ It will be noticed that the initial letters 
spell the word " Amphion." The pavilion was built by 
Victor Amadeus II, he whose history is recorded in 
Chapter xv. 

The poor little pavilion, forgotten by the world, is 
a picture of utter desolation and neglect. But for the 
babble of its waters, which has never ceased, night or 
day, for over two hundred years, it is as still as an empty 
chapel, and yet there was a time when there fluttered 
around it a throng as brightly coloured as a cloud of 
butterflies and when white arms and jewelled hands 
would be thrust through its arches to receive a cup of 
the water that was to cure all ills. 

1 My waters are for the good of the sick of all nations. 

8? 



XIII 

EVIAN 

EVIAN is one of the most popular towns on the 
Lake. It is a pretty place, quiet and old- 
fashioned; its waters and baths have a high 
repute ; its hotels are among the best in France, and its 
summer climate is perfect. Its position on the Lake 
makes it a convenient centre for visitors, while among 
its greatest attractions is the enchanting country with 
which it is surrounded. 

Evian is small and has been little spoiled by its 
popularity, which it accepts with composure. It consists 
of one narrow main street, sundry lanes and a market 
square. By the Lake promenade are the Etablissement 
des Bains and the Casino, while behind the town on 
the slope of the hill are the great hotels and the fashion- 
able villas. Here is a simple old country town with a 
rustic market-place, where butter and eggs are sold, 
surrounded by very advanced buildings of great magnifi- 
cence, and here is a High Street where the limousine 
from Paris, with its liveried servants, is held up by a 
primitive wagon drawn by two oxen and guided by 
a man of the 17th century. The association is as 
anomalous as would be the picture of a peasant in 
homespun, with a rake on his shoulder, sitting in a 
salon surrounded by a gorgeously apparelled company. 

88 



Evian 

Evian is a '* season place," and in the height of the 
summer is crowded, is agreeably restless and very smart. 
The Rue Nationale becomes then a miniature Bond 
Street, for there are shops from Paris and Aix and Nice 
to dazzle the eye. As the pavement is so narrow that 
it will only admit of one person at a time, the baigneurs 
.walk in the road. Beneath the avenue of clipped plane 
trees which shade the promenade there is always a 
rustling company, bright with all the colours of the 
setting sun. 

When the season is over Evian becomes once again 
a drowsy, self-absorbed provincial town. The High 
Street may be absolutely deserted from end to end. 
The hotels are closed and the brilliant shops are shuttered 
up. The steamboats cease to call, while the cabs, the 
motors, the charabancs and the pleasure boats vanish as 
if by the stroke of a magician. The place becomes 
suddenly empty, suddenly quiet, like a ballroom awed 
by a sudden death. There is nothing to recall the gala 
days but the flaming posters still hot on the walls, while 
down the desolate High Street a yoke of oxen can 
lounge with an air of contemptuous boredom. 

Evian is a venerable town, for it figures in the 
mediaeval wars and, even before those days, there was 
some kind of Roman settlement in the place. Its history 
is neither distinctive nor particularly interesting, since 
it differs so little from that of other ancient towns of its 
kind. It was periodically besieged. It was periodically 
pillaged. It was on occasion burnt down and on occasion 
decimated by the plague. It received benefactions from 
this gracious lady or that great lord, was visited by 
princes and witnessed in its streets, from time to time, 

89 



The Lake of Geneva 

scenes of riot and ibrawling when the people, pouring 
out of the taverns, clamoured for more liberty or the 
redress of wrong. If particular names and dates are 
supplied a history such as this would provide the salient 
features in the story of a long series of ancient 
towns,^ 

In its young days Evian must have been very 
picturesque. It was surrounded by a wall and a moat 
and was entered by five gates. In the circuit of the wall 
were twelve towers, very lofty and defiant. There were 
two churches, two great convents and a chateau. A 
stream, La Gruz, ran through the centre of the town, 
dividing it into two parts and incidentally turning a mill- 
wheel on its way. To the west of the stream was the 
parish or bourg of St. Mary, with its church still stand- 
ing ; while to the east was the bourg of La Touviere, with 
its church of St. Catherine. This church, which stood 
on the spot now occupied by the Buvette Cachat, was 
dismantled in the Revolution and later fell into ruins. ^ 

The walls and fortifications were built by Amadeus V 
in 1322. The chief towers belonged to certain strong- 
holds. The more ancient of these was the castle of 
Peter of Savoy, built in 1237. It had four towers, and 
occupied the site of the present Hotel de France on the 
south side of the main street. It is described in old 
books as the Chateau du Souverain and is depicted as 
being in a more or less ruinous condition. The second 
castle — known as the Gribaldi Chateau — was built in 

1 A History of the Town by Noble Francois Prevost, written in 1623, and 
reproduced in Tome v. of the " Memoires de TAcademie Chablaisienne/' 1891 ; 
also " Les Archives d'Evian avant 1790," par C. A. Bouchet. 

* " Au Pays Eviannais," par Alexis Bachellerie. Evian, 1909. 

90 



Evian 

1569, and stood where is now the modern Hotel de 
Ville.i 

Of the encircUng wall and its five gates no trace 
remains ; but of the round towers four are still to be 
seen. They have lost in stature and in dignity, have 
ceased to be menacing or martial and have become 
tamely domesticated as parts of modest dwellings. The 
guard-room has possibly become a fowl-house and the 
turret of the sentry a bedroom for a child. Two stand 
timidly behind the Hotel de Ville, another is hidden by 
the Hotel de France, while a fourth, very shrunken by 
the weight of years, clings to the spot where was once 
the Thonon Gate. Here, like a bUnd halberdier, it 
seems to be still watching the western road. 

The two convents — much modernized — occupy their 
ancient sites. The Convent of St. Claire, on the west, 
is close to the parish church; while that of the Corde- 
liers (now the Pensionnat St. Joseph) is on the east of 
the town, where its ancient walled garden confronts the 
Tourists' Office and the holiday-makers' pier. 

The church of St. Mary is the predominant feature 
of Evian and its most distinguished building. It dates 
from the 13th and 14th centuries. The tower is mag- 
nificent, being unusually lofty and of great size. It has 
huge belfry windows with round arches, and is sur- 
mounted by a balustrade and a glittering steeple which 
was erected in 1793 in place of an older structure which 
had been destroyed. At the foot of the tower is an 
early Gothic window. Compared to the tower, the 
church is mean. It has a nave and two aisles, the vaulted 

^ " Historic Studies in Vaud, Berne, and Savoy," by Meredith Read. Vol. 2, 
page 7. London, 1897. 

91 



The Lake of Geneva 

roofs of which are very cunningly painted to represent 
carved stone. By the side of the chancel is the little 
Chapel of Notre-Dame de Graces. Above its altar are 
figures of the Virgin and Child carved in wood and 
brightly painted. The work bears the date 1493. Both 
figures are nearly life size and, although a little archaic, 
are very charming. It will be noticed that the infant 
Christ holds in His hand a bird with a black head. 

This carving has a curious history. Louise, daughter 
of Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, married Hugues de 
Chalons, the last Lord of Orbe. Being left a widow 
at the age of 30, she entered the convent of the Clarisses 
at Orbe.^ Her novitiate ended in June, 1493. To 
commemorate that event she presented to the convent 
the figure of the Madonna above described. The small 
bird with the black head, held in the hand of the infant 
Christ, represents herself. She died in 1503. In 1554 
the nuns were driven from Orbe and sought refuge at 
Evian. They carried the figure of the Madonna with 
them. They set sail from Ouchy on March 20th, 1555, 
in favourable weather. Midway across the Lake they 
were overtaken by a storm and the ship was nearly lost. 
To lighten the vessel some of the cargo was thrown 
overboard, and among the articles cast away in the 
confusion was the sacred image. The nuns landed safely 
at Evian as the sun died down. 

That same day, in the evening, a fisherman of 
Meillerie noticed a shining object on the lake. He 
approached it and saw to his amazement the face of the 
Madonna — very vivid and very lifelike — appearing above 

1 Orbe is in Vaud, between Lausanne and the Lake of Neuchatel. The convent 
is now an inn. 

92 




EVIAN 




EVIAN : ONE OF THE TOWERS 



Evian 

the surface of the deep. Around the face was a halo 
of gold over which the water rippled. What appeared 
in the dim light to be a miraculous vision proved to be 
the figure from the convent at Orbe. It was recovered 
and restored to the nuns, who, in gratitude for their 
deliverance, gave it to the church at Evian, in the little 
chapel of which it has remained for, now, over 300 
years. ^ 

The chateau at Evian, generally spoken of as the 
de Blonay Castle, occupied the site upon which the 
present Casino stands. It appears in a print of 1725 as 
a square block of uninteresting and featureless buildings 
with a fine garden reaching down to the edge of the 
Lake.^ It was originally the Castle of Grillie which in 
1474 belonged to the Bonivards, of which family the 
Prisoner of Chillon was a member. In 1565 it was sold 
to Jacques Dunant, and finally came to the de Blonay s 
in 1676.^ The de Blonays occupied the chateau for 200 
years until 1878, when it became the property of the 
town of Evian under the will of Ennemond de Blonay, 
the last of this branch of the family. It was pulled down 
and the Casino built in its place. 

There was another chateau at Evian, the Chateau 
de Fonbonne. It was founded in the 14th century by 
Amadeus V and was, for a time, an occasional residence 
of the Counts of Savoy. It became later the house of 
Baron de Montfaucon and, in turn, of other nobles. 
Towards the end of the 16th century it was more or less 
completely destroyed by the Bernese and the French. 

1 " Notre-Dame de Graces." Anon. Evian, 1893. 

* " Groot Stedeboek van Piemont en van Savoye." The Hague, 1725. 

^ Read, op. cit., Vol. 2, page 7. 

93 



The Lake of Geneva 

It appears in old drawings as a large massive house with 
a tower, enclosed within high walls. The present build- 
ing is modern and has been converted into an hotel. 

Conspicuous in Evian as in other Lake towns is the 
Jardin Anglais. It is a little thicket of trees by the 
water's edge intersected by paths. Why this pleasant 
spot is called ''the English Garden" is unknown, for 
certainly no garden in England could possibly have 
inspired it. Indeed, if introduced into England it 
would assuredly be called ' ' the Foreign Garden ' ' on 
account of its unfamiliar appearance. 

The now far-famed waters of Evian were discovered 
in 1790, and within a few years — as was inevitable — the 
town became a spa and changed its name from Evian to 
Evian les Bains. The acquiring of this title and dignity 
was attended by some loss of charm; for Evian, the 
cheery. Lake-side town, where people thronged to take 
the waters of Amphion, became gravely altered when it 
had waters of its own. Before the springs were discovered 
it was as rural and as artless a place as Coppet. It had 
neither harbour nor pier. Those who came by boat 
landed on the beach. There was no promenade with 
its stiff row of trees like a file of drilled men. Gardens 
came down to the water's edge. From the garden 
steps women could dip their buckets in the Lake and 
over the wall the boys could fish. There were then still 
traces of the fortifications and the gates and even of 
the moat. The de Blonay chateau stood by the church, 
while in the High Street were many old buildings, none 
the less picturesque because they were lapsing into ruin. 

Now scarcely an ancient house remains. One, how- 
ever, is to be noted in the Rue de I'Eghse (No. 1). It 

94 



Evian 

was the town house of some noble family. The entry 
has a shouldered arch, and it and the large muUioned 
windows speak regretfully of better days. There is a 
fine, masterful-looking old house on the south side of 
the main street near the site of the Thonon Gate. 
As it is shown in old prints, so — with but little change 
— does it appear now. This was the great inn, the 
Cheval Blanc, which was, no doubt, a bustling place 
during the Amphion season. According to Read the 
inn was the scene of a quarrel that, just before the 
French Revolution, caused much stir in the town. It 
concerned a Dunant (one of the family who once owned 
the Chateau of Evian) and a physician. The physician, 
forgetful of the suave manners of his profession, kicked 
his slipper into the face of the gentleman named. This 
very marked expression of contempt led to a duel, which 
was fought out at the back of the inn, in a place called 
''behind the moat." Dunant was killed, and the 
practitioner, who had so suddenly exchanged the lancet 
for the sword, was compelled to flee, for there was an 
impression abroad that he had provoked the duel in order 
that he might kill Dunant. 

As to the aspect of the natives of Evian there have 
been curious differences of opinion. Shelley, writing in 
1816,^ remarks " the appearance of the inhabitants of 
Evian is more wretched, diseased and poor than I ever 
recollect to have seen " ; whereas Wey, writing in 1866, 
speaks of the beauty of the young women of Evian and 
the charm of their little round bonnets. It is possible 
that when Shelley landed he met the inmates of the 

1 " History of a Six Weeks' Tour." London, 1817. 
^ " La Haute Savoie," par Francis Wey. Paris, 1866, 

95 



The Lake of Geneva 

hospital taking the air as a measure of treatment, and 
mistook them for the normal inhabitants, since ruddier 
and more stalwart folk than the people of Evian could 
not well be found. As for the little round bonnets, I 
am afraid they have gone, and possibly the pretty faces 
have faded with them. Now and then one meets with 
an aged woman wearing one of these coquettish round 
caps, and it would be kindly to assume that fifty-five 
years ago, when Wey visited Evian, the wrinkled face 
was one of those he thought so comely. 



9^ 



XIV 

THE FETE-DIEU 

THE people of Evian are to be seen at their best 
on the occasion of the Fete-Dieu, which is held 
on the Sunday after Corpus Christi, that is to say 
about the beginning of June. The whole street is then 
lined on either side with young fir trees, which would be 
Christmas trees to EngHsh eyes. They give to the road 
the aspect of a way through a wood. On the pavement 
in front of every house are masses of flowers, and it is 
to be noted that they are wild flowers. Some are in 
baskets, some in pots, some are in untidy bundles just 
as the children picked them. Here and there the 
threshold is strewn with flower petals. Here and there 
a little table, covered with a white cloth, is placed before 
the house, and on it stands a vase of wild flowers; or, 
failing a table, there will be a chair. Even the poorest 
cottage makes some display, if only it be a bunch of 
gentian in a jam-pot or in a tin covered with white 
paper. There are no tawdry artificial decorations. 
Young trees from the mountain-side and blossoms from 
the meadow alone grace the Fete-Dieu. 

At either end of the town — in the market-place, on 
the one hand, and beyond the convent on the other — 
an elaborate altar is erected. A religious procession is 

formed which visits in turn the two altars. In the main 
H 97 



The Lake of Geneva 

street, through which the procession moves, certain 
rehgious groups are posed to represent Scripture charac- 
ters. The tableaux are arranged and the holy people 
are personified by the humbler folk of the town. The 
realization of each character is founded upon some 
familiar picture or statue in a church and is carried out 
with pious simplicity. The people themselves make the 
garments and fashion the accessories, the haloes, the 
wings, the wigs, the beards and the different sacred 
emblems. 

In the Fete-Dieu of 1921 the tableaux were as 
follows. In a space before a cafe, made available by 
clearing away the round tables and the chairs, was a 
group composed of the Virgin Mary, Christ, St. Peter, 
John the Baptist and other saints. It was quite impres- 
sive because it was so natural. The Madonna was a very 
pretty, sad-faced woman who made an adorable figure 
and was regarded by the passers-by with a reverence 
that dispelled mere curiosity. St. Peter, with his key, 
lost some dignity by nodding to his friends in the street. 
He had, moreover, a jovial face which no subtlety could 
make serious. John the Baptist, on the other hand, was 
a convincing figure. He really looked as if he cried in 
the wilderness and as if * ' his meat was locusts and wild 
honey," for he was so very lean. The baby in the 
cradle was not a success. He would put his toes in his 
mouth, and when rebuked became violent. He was 
bribed to be quiet by a gift of flowers; but he hurled 
them from him with what, in a grown-up man, would 
have been, without doubt, regrettable language. 

Another group, by the corner of a lane, was com- 
posed of women at a well. A third group in the street 

98 




EVIAN CHURCH 



The Fete-Dieu 

was made up of angels in blue. They were on a rough 
pedestal covered with brown paper to resemble rock. 
They were young girls, and they formed an exceedingly 
effective picture. The angel on the summit of the rock 
had been drilled to keep her hands crossed over her chest 
and her eyes turned to heaven. The hands remained 
unmoved, but when the schoolgirls came by in the pro- 
cession the eyes faltered and drooped gently to the 
street, for I am sure that the school was her school. 

At the foot of this group of angels was a number 
of very tiny cherubim with bare arms and legs and with 
a great scarcity of clothing. They had little wings which 
would not have lifted a kitten, and they held aloft 
flowers in their very chubby hands. After a while, how- 
ever, the hands dropped and the flowers were forgotten. 
Some sat down, some clung to the robes of grown-up 
angels, while one curled herself up, to the damage of 
her wings, and putting her thumb in her mouth com- 
posed herself to rest. Before the procession came by 
the parts they had to play had left their thoughts, and 
the tableau — so far as they were concerned — consisted 
of a number of half -naked cherubim tumbling about on 
the ground in drowsy disorder. 

As a religious display the Fete-Dieu at Evian is 
most impressive. It is carried out with solemnity and 
reverence. It is evidently an expression of frank and 
genuine devotion and is, above all, made admirable by 
its simplicity, for it is a pageant of the religion of a 
child. 



99 



XV 

VICTOR AMADEUS II AND EVIAN 

ON a certain May morning in 1684 the village of 
Les Echelles was the scene of a sudden and 
breathless excitement. A very distinguished 
company had arrived by the Lyons road and had drawn 
up, with much commotion, at the inn. It was a large 
party of lords and ladies, all gorgeously dressed and 
attended by a retinue of servants of no ordinary type. 
It was a curious party, inasmuch as the most important 
person in the cavalcade was a small girl of fifteen, who 
was the object of great attention. The villagers crowded 
round the inn to get a peep at her. She was a vivacious 
little maid with a smiling face and roguish eyes. Her 
head was a mass of curls held in place by bands of silver 
beads. Her dress was that of a woman of thirty, for 
her gown was long enough to hide her feet, while the 
stomacher, stiff and heavily embroidered, reached to a 
point below her waist.^ 

The arrival of travellers was no uncommon thing, 
because the town was not only on the high road between 
Paris and Chambery, but it stood on the frontier that 
divided the two great states of France and Savoy. 

The party that had so fluttered the town took break- 
fast in an upper room of the inn, the windows of which 

» " The Romance of Savoy," by the Marchesa Vitelleschi 2 Vols. London, 
1905. 

100 



Victor Amadeus II and Evian 

looked out upon the street. As it was the month of 
May there is httle doubt that the windows were thrown 
open. The meal had not been long in progress when 
the sound of drums and fifes was heard in the direction 
of the Chambery road. The crowd before the inn became 
excited and commenced to cheer and to wave their caps. 

The little lady at the head of the table immediately 
jumped up, in spite of the anxious protests of her friends, 
and rushed to the window. She saw coming down the 
street a young man of eighteen, superbly clad and very 
pleasant to look upon. He was riding at the head of 
a gallant company of archers and musketeers whose 
tramp could be heard above the rattle of the drums. 
The little lady scanned the young man very intently, 
and then, heedless of the upraised hands and horrified 
looks of all at the table, rushed out of the room and 
down the stairs into the street, where she leaped into 
the arms of the gorgeous lad, who had just then halted 
at the tavern door. 

The lords and ladies, looking down from the windows, 
were shocked and scandalized by this spectacle, but the 
crowd approved of it, for they raised a shout that made 
the horses rear, and that shout they repeated with greater 
fervour when the youth lifted the lady to his saddle and 
kissed her. 

The boy and girl were husband and wife. They had 
been married three weeks, but they had never met before 
nor had they even seen one another ; for they had been 
married by proxy. The youth was Victor Amadeus, 
Duke of Savoy; the girl was Anna Maria, the grand- 
daughter of Charles the First of England. 

It had been arranged that the meeting of the two 

lOI 



The Lake of Geneva 

at the frontier should be conducted with elaborate 
etiquette. Indeed the ceremony of the meeting had 
been rehearsed over and over again; but when the 
moment came little Anna Maria with the curly head 
could not restrain her curiosity, for she must see what 
her husband was like, and when she saw him she could 
not restrain the impulse of her heart, for she felt she 
must kiss him. And so the courtly ceremonial that had 
been so laboriously planned came to nothing; for no 
spectacle can be less ceremonious than that of a girl 
jumping into the arms of a becoming youth. 

After the necessary presentations had been made the 
bride and bridegroom, with their suite, started for 
Chambery. The duchess was carried in a Sedan chair 
as the road was rough, while the duke rode by her side. 
Now and again the restless lady would get out of the 
chair, and then the two would walk together, talking 
shyly with many pauses, or would linger behind to pick 
flowers while the cavalcade moved on. 

When they reached Chambery it was almost dark, 
but the streets were crowded and ablaze with the waving 
light of a hundred torches ; volleys of guns were fired 
from the castle, while there was not a window that was 
not illuminated and fluttering with flags. The boy and 
girl made their way through a cheering mob of loyal 
folk to Sainte Chapelle to receive the archbishop's bless- 
ing. After the Benediction the two walked alone to 
the gate of the palace, he leading her by the hand. 

To realize to its full the importance of the new 
duchess it is necessary to mention that when Queen 
Anne died, in 1714, Lord Mar assured the Government 
of Savoy that if any untoward event happened to the 

102 



Victor Amadeus 11 and Evian 

Chevalier de St. Georges the Stuart party and the 
troops under their command had received orders to 
proclaim Anna Maria Queen of England.^ 

The duke and duchess became somewhat intimately 
associated with Evian, for the family often repaired there 
in order to take the waters of Amphion. During their 
visits they resided at the Chateau de Blonay in Evian, 
near by the church of St. Mary. It w^as in the church 
of St. Mary that Victor Amadeus became involved in 
the dramatic scene that marked his meeting with the 
emotional Madame de Warens, as is detailed in Chapter 
XXXII, and it was with Evian that the closing tragedy 
of his own eventful life was concerned (page 104). It 
.was he, too, who built the pavilion over the spring at 
Amphion and made that little spa, for a while, the most 
fashionable in Savoy and incidentally filled Evian with 
persons of quality (page 87). 

Anna Maria proved herself to be — in the course of 
years — a very admirable woman, wise, amiable and above 
reproach, a perfect wife as well as a noble and dignified 
princess. She died in 1728. 

After her death the House of Savoy, that she had 
so gallantly helped to maintain, fell for the moment 
into grave disorder. The duke, although only sixty-two, 
had become a prematurely old man, feeble in health and 
worn out by the hardships of his many campaigns. He 
fell an easy prey to a certain scheming countess who was 
resolved to become the Duchess of Savoy. The two 
were secretly married in the duke's study at Turin in 
the presence only of a clerk and a valet. This was two 
years after the death of Anna Maria. 

1 " Marchesa Vitelleschi," op. cit. 
103 



The Lake of Geneva 

A month after his second marriage the duke abdicated 
in favour of his only son Charles Emmanuel. He took 
this step without the knowledge of his ambitious and 
masterful wife. He had a longing to return to Cham- 
bery, and to Chambery he went for the second time 
as a bridegroom. He arrived just after dusk, as in the 
happy year when he came as a lad, and went direct to 
Sainte Chapelle, precisely as he had done forty-six years 
before. But there was now no cheering crowd in the 
street, no flare of torches, no salvoes of artillery and, 
most poignant of all, no bride to lead by the hand. He 
came alone ; no one met him ; no one knew of his return ; 
he made his way to the chapel through deserted streets; 
he entered and prayed alone, and alone he walked from 
the chapel to the palace gate. He was acting over again 
the sunniest moment of his life, but it was under a 
cloud of brooding tragedy and assumed the form of a 
self -tormenting penance. 

The final act of the drama opened at Evian. The 
new duke, Charles Emmanuel, had gone there to take 
the waters. While at Evian he was made aware of the 
astounding news that his father, under the influence of 
his pernicious .wife, had revoked his act of abdication 
and was on his way to Turin to resume the throne. The 
young duke left Evian as the panting messenger finished 
his tale and went post haste to Turin. His father and 
he arrived there within a few hours of one another. The 
turmoil, the confusion, the angry interviews, the plots 
and counter-plots that followed may be imagined. 

In the end — and the end was sad enough — the ill- 
advised Charles Emmanuel gave the order for his father's 
arrest, and the feeble, shattered old duke was pulled 

104 



Victor Amadeus II and Evian 

from his bed at two in the morning and carried by force 
to Rivoh, where he was kept a close prisoner. Here he 
died some twelve months later, just forty-eight years 
after the meeting with the little duchess on that 
wonderful morning at Les Echelles. 

The second wife — the scheming lady who dragged a 
helpless man to ruin to serve her own ends — lived in 
comfort to the age of ninety. 



105 



XVI 

THE REAL COUNTRY 

TO the dweller in towns there is a distinction 
between the country and the "real country." 
With the indiscriminate country he is prepared 
to be, in some .way, satisfied, simply because it is not 
the town; but when the weariness of the city is heavy 
upon him it is for the real country that he longs. It 
means to him a quiet place, green and dappled with the 
sun, that is far behind the battle line of life with its 
clamour of arms and its crush of men. It means a 
return, in spirit at least, to the pastoral age of the world 
where, in the place of the factory with its trail of smoke, 
are the uplands and the sheep. 

It needs but little to arouse this longing for the natural 
and the unspoiled. It may be a glimpse of blue sky 
above the trench-like walls of the street, or a bunch of 
primroses in a flower-seller's basket, or so primitive a 
figure as a man with a scythe in a public park. 

The country for some twenty miles round a great 
city like London brings little contentment. It is con- 
taminated by the herding of men and the trample of 
their restless feet. Highways traverse it in unfeeling 
lines; the villages have lost their simplicity and have 
become pinchbeck towns; the hedges are emaciated and 
grey with dust; the common is as bare as a worn-out 

io6 



The Real Country 

carpet, and shreds of advertisements hang, like bits of 
skin, from the meadow fence. 

Go further afield, even travel for a day, and the real 
covmtry is still hard to find. There are open downs, it 
is true, wide heaths, footpaths by the cliff, leafy lanes 
and the banks of streams, but the traces of man and his 
doings are not readily escaped, for even in the remotest 
glen the paper bag and broken bottle of the picnic party 
will be come upon. 

It is but little exaggeration to say that there is no 
''real country" in England. Tramp from the great 
centre until you come to the sea and the country is still 
suburban. The land is trim. It has lost its naivete and 
has become artificial. It is parcelled out like a surveyor's 
plan, ruled and lined like an allotment garden. The 
heart of the country is shut away and is guarded as 
shrewdly as the cloister of a nun. On all sides there are 
hedges and railings and barbed wire. Everything is 
enclosed in a pen. The orchard can be seen over a wall 
bristling with broken glass, while the wood is railed about 
and proclaims upon every side that the trespasser will 
be prosecuted. In England, indeed, the way of the 
trespasser is hard. 

In Savoy, on the other hand, the real country is to 
be found, and nowhere more generously than by the 
south shores of the Lake. There, at least, it is not far 
to seek, for it comes, in all its artlessness, to the very 
walls of the town. The country itself is luxuriant. It 
is a land " flowing with milk and honey." It is, more- 
over, beautiful in its landscape, in its valleys and hills, 
its vast woods, its slopes green with trees, its river 
gorges and its flower-bedecked meadows. 



The Lake of Geneva 

Around Evian it is possibly at its best. Here is the 
heart of the country open and making welcome. There 
are no hedges, no gates, no fences. The stranger may 
wander where he will. There are highways and mule 
tracks, but the common means of going to and fro is 
by the footpath, a footpath as narrow as an Indian 
trail. It leads through clover fields and fields of corn, 
through vineyards and through meadows knee-deep in 
grass. It makes its way unhindered across the apple 
orchard and the cherry grove, for there is no confining 
wall. The blossoms drop on the head of the passer-by, 
the apples fall at his feet. 

The path leads through gardens with as much assur- 
ance as if the garden were one's own. It traverses a 
wood where, by many devious ways, it may wander for 
miles. It passes through the farmyard and among all 
its intimate medley of homely things, by the water 
trough made from the trunk of a tree, the stack of 
winter wood, the plough, the wine barrels, the lantern 
hanging from a nail, the stepping-stones across the 
brook. The house itself is one of the joys of the open 
path. It will be of brown wood covered often by 
clematis or wistaria. Under the great eaves runs a long 
gallery made bright by a few scarlet geraniums and 
reached by an outside stair. Beneath are the cow-house, 
the pen for fowls and the shed where hang the yokes for 
the oxen, the haymakers' tools, the scythes, the baskets 
for the grapes. 

He who follows the path will see, as the year moves 
on, every phase of the life of the country, and see it with 
a freedom and intimacy that he shares with the country- 
man himself. He will see the ploughing of the land 

io8 



The Real Country 

with oxen, the haymaking, the cherry and the apple 
harvest, the gathering of the chestnuts, the making of 
the cyder, the grape harvest and the pruning of the 
vine. This open-heartedness of the country, this ad- 
mission of the stranger into its famihar Ufe, is readily 
explained. The land is possessed by small proprietors 
who represent as fine, honest and industrious a people 
as the world can boast of. There are no flocks and herds 
to be penned in fields. The little company of sheep is 
in charge of a languid boy who follows them about all 
day, whistling as he goes. The cow is conducted to its 
pasture by an aged woman or a girl who will knit as 
she shufiles along with the cow-rope round her arm. Of 
the man-hating bull that may make the open field a 
place of terror there is no evidence. 

Since there are no cattle to confine and since the 
orchard-robber is unknown, hedges and fences are not 
needed. The wood is free for all to wander in because 
game preserving and its inevitable restraints are not 
observed in this corner of France. More than this, a 
respect for the fields and for the bounty of the land is 
almost a religion .with these simple folk. It is, indeed, 
an idyllic country but little removed from that imagined 
land where shepherds played upon their pipes, where 
fauns and dryads gambolled in the glen and where it 
was a fitting thing "to sport with AmaryUis in the 
shade." 

The country is a paradise for birds, and I have hap- 
pened upon no place where more singing birds are to be 
heard than around Evian. It is unusual to meet in a 
vast city-like hotel with people who mildly grumble that 
their sleep has been disturbed by nightingales, but such 

109 



The Lake of Geneva 

are to be met with here. In a small untidy museum at 
Thonon is a collection of the birds that are to be found 
on or labout the Lake. The collection is astonishing and 
claims to be complete. While it includes birds common 
to Great Britain it embraces many that are not seen in 
that island. 

The glory of the flowers along the shores of the Lake 
adds another enchantment to the country. Before the 
hay is cut there is as brilliant a display of colour as will 
be found in any Alpine meadow. There are fields purple 
with meadow sage, yellow with the glorious globe-flower, 
pink with sainfoin or blue with campanulas. There are 
slopes of nodding columbines and banks so covered with 
the small gentian as to seem to be enamelled with lapis 
lazuli. Anemones of all tints, forget-me-nots in huge 
masses, the mountain flax, the rock rose, the pansy, the 
wild strawberry and the wood geranium are among the 
common flowers to be found in this delectable .wild 
garden. There are, besides, so many blossoms which are 
unfamiliar that the idler may be busy, if only he will 
ramble about with curiosity in his mind and a copy of 
Hulme in his pocket.^ 

Lovers of Alpine flowers will understand the desire 
that moved the closing moments in the hfe of Edmond 
Boissier, the famous botanist. As he lay dying he was 
asked if there was anything he wished. ''Yes," he 
said, " there is one thing I wish, to hold in my hand for 
the last time a sprig of Alpine campanula." So it came 
about that, as the shadows deepened and the world grew 
dark, there stood clear before his eyes, in the last speck 
of light that lingered, the lone figure of the bell-flower. 

1 " Familiar Swiss Flowers." By F. E. Hulme. London, 1908. 

no 



XVII 

HOW MARIE AIMEE MET SEVEN ANGELS IN THE 
GUISE OF MENDICANTS 

IN the kindly country that hes between Evian and 
St. Paul there is a little shy lane which seems to 
beckon the stranger to follow it. It leads, by 
enticing ways, to the border of a wood, to a lonely place 
disturbed only by the songs of birds and the babble of 
a stream. In this solitude will be found a small white 
shrine enclosed by a railing. On the surface of a stone 
panel, below a figure of the Virgin, are engraved these 

lines : 

" Here Marie Aimee de Blonay 

Met Seven Angels in the guise of Mendicants,^ ^ 

There is nothing more ; no date, no emblem, no sign 
that can add even a hint to the simple statement. Those 
who come upon this shrine will be lost in conjecture, for 
the little oratory is assuredly modern; while the de 
Blonays are the great family of the neighbourhood and 
the woodland traversed is in their domain.^ The stranger 
may wonder as he will, and yet any toddling child in the 
countryside can tell the story of Marie Aimee ; while 
the elder folk will recall the fact that before the oratoire 
was built the spot was marked by a cross that had 
cnimbled into dust because it was so very old. 

1 The shrine was built in 1896. " Neuvecelle," par Edmond Rollin. Evianj 
1910, 

III 



The Lake of Geneva 

One of the de Blonay castles stood in the village of 
St. Paul. Here Marie Aimee was born in December, 
1590.^ She was called Aimee after Victor Amadeus I, 
the then Duke of Savoy. Her father, the count, was a 
deeply religious man and Marie followed in his footsteps. 
She was educated at the Convent of St. Catherine at 
Annecy, where she received instruction from St. Francis 
de Sales and where she remained until she was eighteen 
years of age. She then returned to St. Paul and began 
to devote her life to religious works, to prayer and to the 
care of the poor and the unhappy. 

On a certain fair morning in May — it will be now 
over 300 years ago — she was walking in this very glade 
with her companion. At the spot on the road where 
the shrine now stands she met seven poor men toiling up 
through the wood. They were young but in lamentable 
plight. They were ill and worn, wasted and in rags. 
Three of them limped along painfully for they bore dire 
wounds. Their wallets were empty and their faces drawn 
by the pinch of hunger. They humbly begged alms of 
the ladies. Marie at once took the leader by the hand 
and, with tears in her eyes, invited him and his comrades 
to come with her to the castle. It was a toilsome way, 
since St. Paul was distant some two miles and every step 
of the path was steep. Still it was the month of May 
when the cowslips are still ablaze, when the wood sparkles 
with anemones and when, as the road ascends, bank after 
bank is blue with gentian. At St. Paul she fed them 
and clothed them, dressed their wounds with her own 
hands, comforted them and brought a gleam of con- 
tent into their weary eyes. As her father was away 

1 She died in 1649, and was buried in the vault of the church at St. Paul. 

112 



\*...^ 




MARIE AIMEE'S SHRINE 



How Marie Aimee Met Seven Angels 

she found them lodgings in the village and left them 
there to sleep. 

On the following morning they came up to the 
castle to take their leave. This parting between the 
girl chatelaine of St. Paul and the seven travel- worn men 
must have afforded an impressive picture. For a back- 
ground was the wall of the great keep rising from the 
shadows of the moat. In the vault of the gateway, under 
the beams and chains of the drawbridge, stood the little 
lady with clasped hands and with the sun full upon her. 
Before her ranged the seven men so that their shadows 
reached her feet. The song of a bird in a tree pink with 
blossom alone broke the silence of the place. 

One of the seven stepped forward to thank the lady 
for her charity and for the sympathy she had shown them. 
He spoke in the voice of one who w^as of noble birth. 
He begged her to devote her heart to the Seven Spirits 
who stand before the Throne of the Lamb, and added, 
" They will ever bear you in remembrance and will ever 
bless you and keep you and give you peace." 

As he spoke a change passed over the faces of the 
seven. The haggard features became beautiful and a 
smile of infinite tenderness spread across the pallid lips. 
The uncouth cap changed to a halo of gold, the poor, 
tattered garments became pendent robes, bright as the 
moon, while the wallets on their shoulders were trans- 
formed into cloud-white wings. 

Marie de Blonay, trembling with ecstasy, knelt on the 
ground in the gateway and buried her face in her hands. 
When she raised her eyes again to the sky the heavenly 
visitors had vanished. 



113 



XVIII 

THE CASTLE OF ST. PAUL 

ST. PAUL stands on the hillside over Evian, on a 
ridge which is 1,500 feet above the level of the 
Lake. From the shore it appears to be on the 
sky line, for the higher ground beyond is cut off from 
view. It is a place of great age and of still greater 
dignity, since it was for centuries a stronghold of the 
de Blonay family. Much of the history of this part of 
Savoy centres around St. Paul and its ancient castle. 

The place is now little more than a hamlet, happy in 
the superb view it commands of the mountains on the 
one side and of the Lake on the other. It is a scattered 
settlement, very vague in its arrangement, since it has 
no definite street nor the formal attributes of a con- 
scientious village. It consists merely of houses dotted 
about at wide intervals among hayfields and cherry 
orchards. In the place of any plan there is only a 
pleasant sense of irresponsibility and of doing as you 
please, for the houses seem to be wandering about like 
self-absorbed sheep in a pasture. 

On an isolated green mound stands the church almost 
hidden by trees. I was told that it was at the end of 
the village, but the village has neither beginning nor 
end, nor would one venture to say whether the church 

was in the village or without it. It is not a beautiful 

114 



The Castle of St. Paul 

church, for, although quite venerable, it has been restored 
and rebuilt at unlovely periods. It boasts an immense 
square tower which can be seen for miles, or even from 
the other side of the Lake. The building has been 
plastered within and without, and has the plain square 
windows of a goods shed. 

On the outer wall of the church, on its north side 
and close to the tower, is a wide pointed archway sealed 
with masonry. Along the edge of the arch a pretty 
pattern has been painted, while the wall on either side 
of the blocked entry shows traces of ancient fresco. 
This is the entrance to the de Blonay vault, where 
members of the family have been buried for many 
centuries. Here lie the early counts and barons of 
Blonay. Here rests that Marie Aimee de Blonay who 
met seven angels in the garb of mendicants, and from 
this vault escaped that lady of St. Paul who was buried 
alive, as is recounted presently. Near to the church is 
a convent and a fine old greyheaded presbytere. 

The castle stood below the church and to the north 
of it. It occupied a commanding position, being built 
on the brink of the almost precipitous slope which drops, 
like a curtain, from St. Paul to the water's edge. It 
was constructed by Aymon de Blonay in 1233, or 
possibly earlier, was restored in 1665, and was allowed, 
soon after that date, to fall into decay.^ It consisted, as 
the old drawings ^ show, of a great square building with 
a round tower in the centre. This structure stood upon 
a platform surrounded by a low battlemented wall, and 
at each of its four corners was a little square tower with 

1 " Haute Savoie," par A. Raverat. Lyons, 1872. 
* " Groot Stedeboek van Piemont en van Savoye." The Hague, 1725. 

115 



The Lake of Geneva 

a conical roof. The entrance to the castle looked towards 
the church. It can still be defined. From the eminence 
on which the chateau stands it is said that no fewer than 
seven of the de Blonay castles could be seen, including 
the famous chateau above Vevey. 

Of the actual stronghold but little remains, for a 
company of cherry trees have taken possession of the 
place and grass has covered it as with a carpet. There 
are still in view the great fosse or ditch, the base of a 
central round tower, masses of half -buried masonry and, 
on the east, a part of the enceinte wall with deep-cut 
battlements. At the edge of the plateau is a little square 
tower, with a round-arched window, very pitiable to see ; 
for it is the last upstanding fragment of the proud old 
house and the last of the four small towers already 
named. 

One day, towards the end of the 17th century, 
Claudine, the young wife of the then Baron de Blonay, 
had been buried in the family vault under the church of 
St. Paul. On the night of her burial the half-demented 
husband was sitting alone in the hall of the castle, 
crushed with despair and in utter misery. His supper 
stood on the table untouched, his face was hidden in 
his hands, his whole frame shook with his sobbing. 
There came a faint knock at the door. He jumped up 
whispering to himself, *' My God! It was just in that 
way she always tapped." As he turned the door opened, 
and his wife, clad in a shroud, staggered into the room 
and fell into his arms. 

She had been in a trance that mimicked death and, 
seemingly lifeless, had been carried to the church and 
laid in the vault. The bricking-up of the vault was not 

ii6 



The Castle of St. Paul 

complete or possibly not commenced. When night fell 
a servant had crept into the entry for the purpose of 
stealing a certain ring from the lady's finger. He found 
her cold hand folded over a crucifix, seized it, and 
attempted to remove the ring. But the ring would not 
yield, so he drew out his knife and cut the finger off. 

The pain of this savage woTmd woke the sleeper from 
her trance. With a gasp of horror she realized where 
she was, felt her way out of the awful place, and with 
unsteady steps stumbled down the path to the castle. 
It would have been a fearsome sight — if any chanced to 
see — the Lady of Blonay, in a shroud dabbled with blood, 
walking with bare feet to the very castle she had that 
morning left as a corpse. 

The lady recovered and lived to have several children. 
One of her sons was that Baron Louis de Blonay who 
was equerry to Victor Amadeus II and who was present 
with that prince when Madame de Warens made so 
dramatic a scene in the church at Evian, as is detailed 
in Chapter xxxii. Both he and his mother are interred 
in the vault at St. Paul. 



117 



XIX 

THE GREAT STONE AND THE HAUNTED LAKE 

CLOSE to St. Paul are two objects which, in the 
estimation of the people of the country, are of 
more than local interest. They are the Great 
Stone and the Haunted Lake. The Great Stone stands 
by the side of the mule-path which mounts up from 
Evian to St. Paul. It takes the form of an enormous 
and very forbidding block of stone, smooth and almost 
black, which stands by itself in a field. It is surrounded 
by cherry trees and has implanted on its summit a lofty 
wooden cross. Geologically it is what is known as an 
''erratic." 

The cross has been placed on the stone to avert 
further trouble, for the story of the Pierregrosse is as 
follows.^ In the spring of 1273 there were great festivi- 
ties in progress at the Castle of Larringes to celebrate 
the marriage of Jordane de Lucinges, the daughter of 
the house. After the bride and bridegroom had 
departed certain of the guests sat down to play at 
cards. They were — to be exact — the host, the Lord of 
Lucinges, the Marquis of AUinges-Coudree, the Baron 
Amed de Blonay and M. de Billens, chatelain at Evian 
for the Count of Savoy. They played for three days and 
three nights without stopping. Candles were lit when 

1 ** Au Pays Eviannais," par Alexis Bachellerie. Evian, 1909, 

Il8 



The Great Stone and the Haunted Lake 

the sun set and shutters were thrown open when the 
dawn broke. Food and drink were kept on the table, 
and these noble persons, blinking through alternating 
phases of drunkenness and sobriety, continued to play 
for the immoderate period above stated. 

Amed de Blonay lost and lost. He lost until his 
pockets were empty and until he had played away the 
beautiful chestnut grove of Allaman, the Forest of 
Lajoux, 10,000 cherry trees at Lugrin, the vines above 
Maraiche and a hunting-box outside Vevey. Several 
times during this protracted game his equerry had ridden 
over from St. Paul to beg his master to return, as 
the Lady de Blonay was immediately expecting her 
confinement and very anxious for her husband to 
come back. 

On the evening of the third day Amed de Blonay, 
having had enough of card-playing, started to ride home. 
The night was dark ; an appropriate thunderstorm was 
raging and he rode at a gallop. When near to St. Paul 
his horse stumbled and nearly threw him. ''May the 
Devil come and take you! " hissed the count, who, at 
that moment, was aware of a black-clad figure by his 
side. " Yes," said the stranger to the astonished Amed, 
" I have come. I am Satan and no other. I can give 
you back all you have lost and more and make you 
besides the richest lord in the land if . . ." '* If what? " 
asked the count eagerly. ''If you will bring me at 
dawn, at this spot, the first creature born in your 
chateau after your return." "Agreed!" said the 
gambler. 

When he reached the castle the child had not yet 
seen the light. Amed, sunk deep in his chair, sat in the 

119 



The Lake of Geneva 

great hall waiting with an air of the deepest gloom. The 
bailiff entered to report to his lord such domestic events 
as had happened in his absence. The count paid little 
heed to this chatter, remaining sullen and silent; but 
on the mention of one occurrence he suddenly brightened, 
slapped his thigh and broke out into a roar of derisive 
laughter. The bailiff, having finished his report, with- 
drew in amazement, and scarcely had he left when the 
birth of the young de Blonay was announced. 

Just before sunrise the count left the castle carrjdng 
under his cloak a bundle containing something soft. He 
reached the appointed place and saw, silhouetted against 
the faint light of the dawn, the black figure of the Devil, 
and by his side an enormous block of gold so bright as 
to be almost luminous. " Have you carried out our 
compact. Sir Count? " asked the Devil. " I have. Sir 
Satan," replied de Blonay, ** and I hope you will like 
it." At the same moment he let loose from his cloak 
a newly-born pig. The Devil stamped and raged with 
fury. The little pig slunk back to the castle. The 
count smiled and placed his hand on the boulder of gold 
with an air of ownership. Whereupon the Devil, aiming 
a kick at the passing pig, struck the mass with his fist, 
with the result that the yellow glow faded from it and 
the great block changed into mere dull stone. 

Here the story ends. The conclusion was not satis- 
factory to either party. The Devil vanished ; the count, 
in reflective mood, followed the pig to the castle, and 
the rock remains as it appears to-day. To prevent a 
repetition of such unholy bargaining the pious folk of 
St. Paul erected a cross on the summit of the stone. 
It is a childish narrative, but the people who evolved it 

120 




THE GREAT STONE 




DENT D'OGHE 



The Great Stone and the Haunted Lake 

are child-like and are apt to express their imagination 
in terms of the farmyard. 

About li miles beyond St. Paul, in the direction of 
Bernex, is a place called La Gotetta, where is a calvaire 
with a modern chapel and the Stations of the Cross. 
The place is favoured by tourists on account of the 
imposing view it affords of the Dent d'Oche and of the 
valley which lies at its feet. Within sight of the chapel 
are two little lakes in a wood which are famous for their 
water lilies, their crayfish and their ahlettes. The larger 
of these ponds, called La Beunaz, was at one time 
haunted by a dwarf of very high principles. He is said 
to have been just two feet in height, but in erudition 
he was a giant. 

A farmer living near the lake had had great mis- 
fortunes and had, indeed, fallen upon such evil days 
that he had resolved to drown himself. He approached 
the lake for this purpose, deposited his hat and coat on 
the bank, together with the few sous in his pocket, and 
placed on the heap the customary letter to his wife. As 
he stepped back a pace or two to take the final leap, a 
voice from the pool called out ''Don't do it ! " The 
farmer recognized the voice as that of the dwarf. The 
dwarf then proceeded to give the farmer advice as to the 
care of his land and furnished him with what would be 
called " tips " in farm management. The farmer resolved 
to postpone his suicide and to try the reforms suggested ; 
so he picked up his coat and hat, threw the letter into 
the lake and walked home. 

So successful were the dwarf's proposals that the 
farm flourished and there followed very promptly a period 
of great good fortune. As Christmas drew near, the 

121 



The Lake of Geneva 

farmer's wife — a kindly soul — felt that some recognition 
of the dwarf's good services should be attempted. So 
she made him a little suit of clothes, a jacket, a pair of 
very small breeches, some doll-like stockings and two tiny 
morocco shoes. The present was even more incongruous 
than Christmas presents usually are, since it was designed 
for a being who lived at the bottom of a lake. 

Still, at Christmas Eve these pathetically ridiculous 
garments were spread, with fond care, by the water's 
edge, and the farmer, not to be behind his wife in 
generosity, stuffed some gold coins into the pocket of 
the absurd breeches. Next morning husband and wife 
went down smiling to the lake to see what had become 
of their egregious present. They were horrified to find 
the clothes torn into rags and the coins scattered along 
the bank; while a reproving voice rose from the deep, 
uttering these words : " Do good for good's sake and 
not for recompense." With this cutting rebuff ringing 
in their ears the two sorry imitators of Santa Claus crept 
home, with downcast heads and a few ridiculous rags in 
their hands. 



122 



XX 

THE HOLLY OF THE TALKING CATS 

BELOW St. Paul and towards the foot of the slope 
are three other castles (viz. those of Blonay, 
AUaman and Maxilly) which belong, or have 
belonged, to the famous family of de Blonay. The most 
important of these historically is the Chateau de Blonay, 
which stands near to the water's edge and is a conspicuous 
object to all who pass by on the Lake. This castle is 
believed to be the oldest of the de Blonay possessions and 
to be, indeed, the cradle of the race. It carries the mind 
back far, since Meredith Read states that ' ' the house of 
de Blonay has maintained an uninterrupted male descent 
to the present day for nearly a thousand years." ^ 

The chateau is at Tour Ronde, between Evian and 
Meillerie. It dates from the 11th century when it formed 
a primitive lake-side fortress. Later it is depicted in old 
prints as a mediaeval stronghold within high walls, with 
a central keep supported by lofty towers and surrounded 
by a moat. The chateau has been rebuilt in recent years 
in a style without either character or charm. It is now 
merely a large ambitious house with a faint pretence to 
be feudal. Two old towers remain, but with facings so 
modern that they could be compared to a couple of 
harquebusiers in frock coats. There are still a moat with 

1 " Historic Studies in Vaud," etc., vol. i., page 469. London, 1897. 

123 



The Lake of Geneva 

a bridge over it and some curious windows fashioned like 
keyholes. 

By the roadside is a little chapel to St. Andrew. It 
marks the spot where Antoine de Beaufort, governor of 
the Castle of Chillon, landed in 1536 when he fled to 
avoid capture by the Bernese who had attacked his castle 
and had wrested it from the hands of Savoy. It marks 
also another landing which took place on the same day 
under conditions suspicious of exaggeration. One of the 
de Blonays was at Chillon when the castle fell. Being 
loyal to Savoy and determined to escape the hated Swiss, 
he mounted his horse and in full armour swam across the 
Lake to Tour Ronde, a distance of over eleven miles. 
To dispel any doubt as to this performance the natives 
point to an iron spring by the chapel as a proof that de 
Blonay did swim the Lake as affirmed, for in struggling 
ashore the horse, it appears, lost a shoe against a rock 
and from the rock gushed forth a spring of iron water 
which is running to this day. The chapel — the walls of 
which are very old — is, in fact, built on a mass of 
rock by the water's edge, and it is curious that the iron 
spring issues through an aperture from the solid, un- 
fissured istone. 

The Chateau d'Allaman lies behind Blonay, higher 
up the hill among the orchards. It is a large, rambling 
building which has suffered much from restorations and 
additions of various dates. It still presents, however, in 
the patchwork mass the old stolid " strong house," square 
and plain, with a round, ivy-covered tower by its side. 
A lithograph of about the year 1845 shows the castle as 
it was before the wings were added. It was then dilapi- 
dated, it is true, and although surrounded by all the 

124 




MAXILLY CASTLE 



The Holly of the Talking Gats 

squalor of a farmyard had yet a dignity which is now a 
Httle lacking.^ 

The Castle of Maxilly stands in ruins near by the 
village of Maxilly. On the fringe of the domain is the 
bois de Bedford, a fine wood of chestnut trees, named 
after the Duke of Bedford as a souvenir of the fetes 
champ etres given by him when he occupied the Chateau 
de Fonbonne at Evian while taking the Amphion waters. 
The position of the castle is romantic in the extreme, for 
its gaunt, grey walls rise from the brink of a deep ravine 
whose sides are dark with trees and in whose depths winds 
a stream that ever mutters mysteriously. This ravine is 
full of suspicious shadows, even at high noon; while at 
night, when an owl sails hooting down the cleft, it must 
be a place of dread. 

The ruins are encompassed about by brushwood and 
almost hidden by trees. Such walls as remain are very 
high, are pierced by windows which, before the wood 
grew up, looked out upon the Lake and by doors which 
once opened into rooms but now into nothingness. In 
the best preserved part of the castle is the hall, in which 
is the great fireplace. The hearth is no less than 15 feet 
in width and is spanned by an arch, on the central stone 
of which is carved the de Blonay arms. Many a jovial 
company must have gathered round this fireplace with 
the glow of the burning logs on their faces; and sad 
must have been the day when the fire died out among 
the ashes for the last time. From the hall a stone stair 
leads up to a fragment of a room in which is a handsome 
cheminee decorated with plaster work, as well as with 

1 " Chateaux, Manoirs et Monast^res des Environs de Geneve," par J. Lanz. 
Geneva. 

125 



The Lake of Geneva 

paintings of birds and of a figure claimed to be that of 
Bacchus.^ 

The main gate of the castle still stands in the form 
of a fine rounded arch, which opens into the courtyard 
by the great hall. Just outside the gate is the Holly 
of the Talking Cats. It is an immense tree, the trunk 
of .which is said to be 6 feet in girth and the height 
attained to be 40 feet. Whatever may be its exact 
dimensions, it is the largest holly tree I have chanced 
to meet with. 

The legend of The Talking Cats is a little elusive. 
Francis Wey in his great work^ says that he found the 
legend so complicated and tangled that he failed to make 
anything out of it after reading it no fewer than four 
times. I have gone a step further and have perused 
some four or five separate versions of the legend. They 
all vary ; but out of the melange it is possible to extract 
a composite narrative with the following features. 

Maxilly came into the possession of the de Blonay 
family by marriage in the 18th century. The Lady 
Alix of Maxilly, who is concerned in the story, had two 
lovers, Raoul de Blonay and Robert d'Arbigny. One 
was virtuous, the other was not. It became evident, in 
course of time, that the lady's heart inclined towards 
de Blonay and that it was at his voice her face ever 
brightened. Robert d'Arbigny, on observing this 
preference, became filled with rage and foamed at the 
mouth. Maddened by jealousy, he resolved to rid the 
earth of his rival. He was disinclined to attempt this 

1 A sketch of the old chateau is given in " Groot Stedeboek van Piemont en 
van Savoye." Tome ii. The Hague, 1725. 

* " La Haute Savole," par Francis Wey. Paris, 1866. 

126 



The Holly of the Talking Cats 

himself because, in the first place, he was afraid of 
Raoul and, secondly, he doubted if he would commend 
himself to the lady when he appeared in the guise of a 
murderer. 

Now, some miles west of Maxilly is a place called 
Feternes, where was a grotto occupied by three fairies. 
They were not good fairies, but were, on the contrary, 
conspicuously offensive both in their persons and in their 
habits. In the grotto they kept treasure. They also 
kept cats. These were not ordinary cats that sleep curled 
up on hearthrugs ; but were animals terrible of aspect, 
being very large, with claws as big as scythes and with 
eyes that almost blinded those who gazed upon them. 
These lavishly endowed creatures were charged with 
guarding the treasure, and it was these very super-cats 
that Robert engaged to compass the death of Raoul. 

The animals were apparently ordered to attack de 
Blonay as he was about to enter the Castle of Maxilly. 
They, indeed, flew upon him just outside the gate, at 
the very spot where the holly tree now grows. The 
fight was terrific and the noise made by the beasts ear- 
piercing, since cats are very shrill when fighting. Raoul's 
doublet was torn by the fearful claws; but he not only 
kept the cats at bay, but finally drove them before him 
with his flashing sword. As the cats retreated they 
called out '^Robert is dead." 

After the hideous combat was over de Blonay entered 
the castle. There, sitting in the great hall, was the lady 
shrivelled with terror and with her two hands clutching 
her hair. On her lap was a white cat. When the cat 
saw de Blonay it cried out " Robert is dead," and, 
having delivered itself of this information, jumped 

127 



The Lake of Geneva 

through the window, as cats will. Later on the dead 
body of Robert was found by the postern. 

Here the narrative comes to a sudden end. In order 
to complete the story and to provide an appropriate 
moral, I would venture to suggest that the cats mis- 
took Robert for Raoul, and so unwittingly brought 
retribution upon the wicked and upon the virtuous 
peace. 

Now, since this knowledge came to me, whenever I 
meet a white cat in a lonely place and when the cat 
stops and begins to open its mouth, I am always afraid 
that it will squeal out, " Robert is dead." 



128 



XXI 

THE ABBEY OF ABONDANCE 

HIGH up among the hills over Evian, at an 
altitude of 3,050 feet, is a valley called the 
Valley of Abondance. The valley is deep and 
very green and so rich in pasture that its name befits 
it well. A stream of water, clear as crystal, runs through 
the valley, while by its side is a long white road which 
leads from this solitude to the outer world. The sides 
of the valley are steep and are made almost black by 
a crowd of pine trees which stand erect on the slopes, 
like a dark, impassive company of monks with pointed 
cowls looking down upon their old abbey by the stream. 

The village of Abondance is small, comfortable and 
very ancient. Its houses, with their brown overhanging 
roofs and long balconies, are most picturesque, while 
across the river is thrown a fascinating wooden bridge 
roofed over with mouse-grey shingles and covered in on 
both sides to protect it from the snow. Its timbers are 
ashen with age ; it is dark as a cavern ; while the echoes 
that issue from it when an ox- wagon lumbers through, 
or when a troop of boys clatters down from the school, 
almost drown the ceaseless clamour of the brook. 

The church and the monastery are a little way up 
the hill-side, and command both the village and its 
bridge. The origin of the monastery is obscure. The 
legend that it was founded by St. Colomban in the 

J 129 



The Lake of Geneva 

6th century appears to be unsupported by evidence.^ 
What is undoubted is that in the 10th century the 
monks of the monastery of St. Maurice-en- Valais were so 
harassed by the Saracens that they sought refuge in the 
far away Valley of Abondance. Here, on land granted 
by Guy of Feternes, they founded in 1043 a priory and, 
later, an abbey. The first abbot was one Rodolphe, who 
was supreme between the years 1144-1153.^ 

The village itself was already long established, having 
had its origin as a small colony planted by the Bur- 
gundians in the 5th or 6th century. As the valley was 
difficult of access and far removed from any masterful 
highway, it remained isolated and undisturbed — so 
isolated, indeed, as to justify the claim that the natives 
of Abondance are Burgundians still; for those who are 
learned in these things affirm that the villagers even now 
present the features and characteristics of that ancient 
people. Their exceptional stature, their blue eyes, fine 
complexion and fair hair are the points insisted on. It 
is claimed, moreover, that the cattle of the valley are 
peculiar and have traits which are especially their own. 

As time went on this remote offshoot from Burgundy 
became a sturdy place, very independent and sure of 
itself ; for, while principalities and powers were hectoring 
in the world around, Abondance constituted itself a kind 
of republic and remained aloof as probably the tiniest 
independent state of its time. The abbey became a great 
ecclesiastical power. It extended its confines, acquired 
wealth and lands, so that at one time it held jurisdiction 

^ " L'Abbaye et la Valine d' Abondance," par J. Mercier. Annecy, 1885. 

2 ** Abondance," par L. E. Picard. " M^moires et Documents de TAcademie 
Chablaisienne." Tome xviii. Thonon, 1904. 

130 




ABONDANCE: THE CLOISTERS 




ABONDANGE: THE DOOR OF THE VIRGIN 



The Abbey of Abondance 

over no fewer than 18 parishes and 22 priories. The 
abbey and the repubUc were not always at peace with 
one another. There were troubles, but possibly not a 
few of them were settled between the abbot and the 
Burgundian president over a mug of mulled claret in the 
abbot's very comfortable parlour. After a period of 
great glory the abbey fell into decay, became involved 
at the end in the Revolution of 1792, and was sold as 
national property a few years later. 

The church, which is one of the most beautiful in 
Savoy, dates from at least the 13th century. It has been 
damaged more than once by fire and has suffered hardly 
less from neglect. Its quaint, effeminate steeple is but 
200 years old, while its entry is still more recent, for the 
building was finally restored in 1894. As an example of 
its period it is now classed as a national monument. It 
consists of a nave and two transepts, and is very lofty 
throughout. Its simplicity, its elegance and its fine 
proportions are the chief attributes of the building. The 
vault of the choir is ogival. The columns are round and 
have primitive and curious capitals. As a whole it well 
illustrates the transition from the rounded to the pointed 
arch. In the arcades of the choir are certain painted 
statues on wood, which form the only jarring feature in 
this otherwise exquisite chapel. 

The abbot's chair, accredited to the 14th and 15th 
centuries, is a beautiful specimen of wood-carving. It 
is surmounted by a Gothic canopy on which are little 
figures of the Apostles. These are claimed to be the 
work of the 15th century. A more archaic carving 
(ascribed to a century earlier) is on the right side of the 
chair. It represents three angels singing and holding a 

131 



The Lake of Geneva 

book between them. They are evidently earnest and 
full of song and are yet unreasonably ugly. They have 
the mouths of negroes, or, as a French writer prefers, 
the mouths of frogs. The carving on the left side of the 
chair depicts a scene in hell. The 15th century stalls 
display much interesting detail, notably in the heads of 
men and women showing the garb of the time. 

The monastery is represented by a vast expressionless 
building close to the church. It is the survivor of various 
fires, that of 1728 having been the most disastrous. It 
is now put to many purposes, is a wandering, miscel- 
laneous structure, une sorte de phalanstere as one writer 
expresses it. It is, in the first place, the mairie of 
Abondance. It contains both the boys' and the girls' 
schools, provides, along its echoing corridors, a residence 
for the clergy and for other less definite people, while 
its fine refectory has been converted into a justice room. 
The entrance opens upon a vaulted hall with, in the 
centre, a single column. On one side of the hall is a 
large stone trough or lavabo, while on the other side 
are the outlines of an ample fireplace. This was the 
chauffoir, where the monks warmed themselves after the 
offices of the night or early morning. 

A gorgeous valley full of flowers, an ancient church, 
a rambling monastery, Burgundian villagers and peculiar 
cows do not, however, exhaust the attractions of Abon- 
dance. 

The great glory of the valley is the abbey cloister. It 
adjoins the church, was almost ruined in the fire of 1728, 
but has now been sympathetically restored. It forms a 
square and had originally four galleries or corridors, but 
that on the north side is now wanting. The cloister, 

132 



The Abbey of Abondance 

maimed as it is, still remains a structure of supreme 
beauty. It seems to be shut off from the world, for 
above its walls there is only the blue of heaven. In the 
centre, as a patch of green, is a square lawn. It is 
enclosed by a grey colonnade of Gothic arches, delicate 
and dainty as lace-work and as fragile looking. Within 
the screen of pillars and stone tracery there runs on each 
side a vaulted passage, the walls of which glow with the 
colours of old frescoes. 

The place is silent and deserted, save that on the 
cloister roof some pigeons are preening their wings in 
the sun. Never could the magic effect of light and shade 
be more beautiful to see. Here the shadow of a column 
and its arch falls across the paved footway, and here a 
gleam of light illumines a patch of red and blue among 
the paintings on the walls. The cloister is, indeed, a 
place of serene delight, solemn as a strain of old church 
music, beautiful as an illuminated missal, pathetic as a 
memory of the dead. 

The cloister was built by the Abbot Jean between 
the years 1331 and 1354, and the frescoes are believed 
to date from about the same period. They illustrate 
scenes in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Among 
them are the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Flight into 
Egypt, Christ disputing with the Doctors, and the 
Marriage Feast at Cana. Deonna and Renard^ give 
drawings of the frescoes before they were restored, and 
it will be seen that they are in no way spoiled. 

The interest of these remarkable wall-paintings is 
largely due to the fact that they represent the people and 
the country of the period in which they were designed, 

* " L'Abbaye d' Abondance." Geneva, 1912. 



The Lake of Geneva 

There are, for example, the curious houses, a street, 
glimpses of landscape and the dress of men and women 
of various stations in life. In the fresco of the Feast at 
Cana we see the table laid, the dishes (mostly of fowls), 
the knives (but not the forks), the ewers and cups, the 
salt-cellars and, generally, the table manners of the time. 
It may be noticed, by the way, that the men dined in 
their hats and that all, apparently, ate with their fingers. 
On one side is the kitchen, with a pot hanging before 
the fire and a lavish supply of hams and sausages in the 
background. On the other side is a servant bringing in 
the water that is to be turned into wine. In the Nativity 
fresco are the stable and manger of the 14th century, a 
scene which differs strangely from the gaudily decorated 
cavern shown in Bethlehem at the present day. There 
is also a mill which is difficult to associate with Palestine. 
The key-stones of the cloister vault are decorated by 
ingenious medallions showing the signs of the Zodiac 
and the months of the year. At the church end of the 
cloister is the famous Door of the Virgin. It presents 
a shouldered arch with above it a tympanum in which 
is carved the Virgin seated with the Child in her lap. 
Two angels kneel before her, while two others place a 
crown upon her head. On either side of the entry is 
a large female statue. The one on the left represents 
the Synagogue or Old Testament, the one on the right 
the Church or New Law. Both are crowned, but the 
figure of the Synagogue is blindfolded. Deonna and 
Renard give, in the work previously mentioned, a 
drawing of a more recent statue of the Synagogue at 
Strasbourg in which the eyes also are blindfolded but 
the head uncrowned. 

134 



XXII 

FROM EVIAN TO BOUVERET 

THE general aspect of the Lake shore between 
Evian and the Rhone valley has been already 
alluded to (page 83). A high road follows the 
water's edge all the way. The first three villages met 
with — Grande Rive, Petite Rive and Tour Ronde — are 
of no particular concern, although Petite Rive may serve 
as a typical example of a lake-side village, where every 
man is half fisherman and half tiller of the soil. Tour 
Ronde derives any importance it may possess from its 
association .with the Chateau de Blonay (page 128) and 
its title from a round tower built here by the Counts 
of Savoy for the defence of the coast. Of the tower 
only the name survives, for it was destroyed in the 
Revolution of 1789. In an old print by C. Hackert, 
dated 1783, it appears as a low, round blockhouse with 
loopholes, and is neither formidable nor picturesque. 
Within a few kilometres of Tour Ronde is Meillerie, 
which is dealt with in the chapter which follows, while 
some two miles beyond Meillerie is Bret. 

Bret is a little, cringing, begrimed hamlet placed at 
the very foot of gorgeous and majestic hills, like a door- 
mat at the threshold of a palace. It stands some way 
above the shore, shivering in the shade, for it is only 
during the rare days of summer that a ray of sun falls 
upon it. How it came to pass that human beings ever 

135 



The Lake of Geneva 

settled in this spot must remain one of the mysteries 
of the Lake. The inhabitants have shown persistence in 
cHnging to their homes, for in 1584 the village was swept 
away by a landslip, on which occasion 122 people lost 
their lives. It is picturesque because it is so old, so dis- 
ordered, so careless. It is just an untidy heap of odd 
dwellings, disposed with no more method than would 
ensue if the whole place — houses, lanes and courtyards — 
had been tumbled out of a cart at the bottom of the 
hill. 

In olden days the way by the Lake was so narrow 
that it was known as the Pass of Bret. According to 
Bouchet the most ancient of the archives of Evian is 
concerned with the woods of Bret. That document, 
bearing the date 1296, contains an order from Count 
Amadeus forbidding the pasturage of goats in these 
woods. It further appears that Count Pierre, who 
preceded this Amadeus, had granted the woods of Bret 
to the town of Evian as a reward for services its men 
had rendered in the wars with the Valaisians in 1235. 

St. Gingolph, viewed from a passing steamer, is, 
without doubt, the most beautifully placed town on the 
Lake, since it has for its background the grandest tract 
of scenery that the shore provides. It is around St. 
Gingolph that the mountains come nearest to the water's 
edge and reach to their greatest height. At their base 
lies the town, like some ornament in pearl and grey on 
the hem of a drooping curtain of green. 

Behind the town a gorge, shrouded with trees, 
descends with many mysterious windings. This is the 
Vallon de Novel. The mountain to the east of it (the 
Grammont) rises to a point 5,900 feet above the surface 

136 



From Evian to Bouveret 

of the Lake, while that to the west (the Blanchard) 
cUmbs to 3,400 feet. About the lower ranges of these 
hills are homely trees, while above them rise, in ever- 
mounting tiers, the sombre pines — until they reach a 
wall of precipices slashed with snow and rounded by the 
blue of heaven. The ravine is ominous, for as it turns 
out of sight, far up the steep, there is a sense that it 
must open into some dreadful place among the hills. 

Down this gorge tumbles the torrent of the 
Morge, which, hurrying headlong through the town, 
falls boisterously into the Lake. The torrent and the 
Vallon de Novel mark the frontier between Switzerland 
and France. They divide St. Gingolph into two parts 
— one Swiss, one French — with between them only the 
bond of a small stone bridge. No frontier could be less 
formidable nor less appropriate to the grave business of 
the scrutiny of passports and the rummaging of bags. 
One would expect to come upon a tower or a spiked 
gate ; but in their place are only two deferential cafes. 

Those who would retain an impression of the beauty 
of St. Gingolph should view it only from the Lake or 
from Vevey across the water. The nearer the town is 
approached the less attractive does it become, so that by 
the time its streets are entered it has dwindled to a quite 
plain and ordinary place. According to the guide books 
the two parts of St. Gingolph display, in strong con- 
trast, the characteristics of the French on the one side 
and of the Swiss on the other. This is not, however, 
apparent ; for the two nations would appear, at this point, 
to have ''pooled" both their virtues and their failings 
and to have produced thereby a town which in social tint 
is merely nondescript and drab. 

137 



The Lake of Geneva 

St. Gingolph, in the Middle Ages, is said to have 
been a sober town without ambition or pretence and to 
have been for long under the fatherly control of the 
Abbey of Abondance. In the Swiss quarter is a little 
chapel of much charm >vhich dates from the year 1537. 
In front of it is an arcade of rounded arches, supported 
by pillars with capitals of a mildly classic type. Near by 
are an old archway and an entry which was once the 
portal of a convent. In the hall of the gendarmerie is 
a door with an ogival arch bearing the date 1588. Beyond 
these relics there is little of interest in either section of 
the double town. 

About a couple of miles from St. Gingolph is 
Bouveret, The situation of Bouveret is scarcely less 
beautiful than that of St. Gingolph. The town stands 
on a densely wooded cape at the very opening of the 
Rhone valley, and has for a background those imperious 
mountains which give such grandeur to the scenery of 
this extremity of the Lake. 

The town itself is of no interest. Almost all traces 
of the old village have vanished, for Bouveret has become 
a favourite tourist resort and space has had to be found 
for the cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops and pensions 
that represent the price a town has to pay for popularity 
of this kind. 

The adventure which befell John Evelyn at Bouveret 
is dealt with in Chapter xxiv. 



138 



XXIII 

MEILLERIE AND ITS LOVE STORY 

MEILLERIE is a little fishing village, brown 
and sunburnt, which squats on a pebbly beach 
with its feet in the water. It is old ; it is not 
clean; it is artistically untidy. Its situation is superb, 
for it lies at the foot of a steep mountain-slope covered 
with trees as if with velvet. Between the green of the 
hill and the blue of the Lake it appears as a brown patch 
edged with grey — the brown being the housetops, the 
grey the beach. So narrow is the ledge between the 
mountain wall and the shore that, in olden days, there 
was no lake-side road at this point, but only a path for 
the pack-horse. 

Huge rocks came down to the water's edge in tumbled 
masses at a promontory just to the east of the village. 
These were the ' ' rocks of Meillerie ' ' made famous by 
Rousseau and by the unequal efforts of many draughts- 
men and painters. The rocks have disappeared. The 
quarryman, who is no respecter of landscape, has carried 
them away, while a wide road has taken the place of the 
ancient mule-path. This road, running from Evian to 
St. Gingolph, was constructed about the years 1800-6 to 
supplement the great highway which was then sweeping 
across the Simplon Pass. 

Meillerie is divided into two parts, the old village and 

139 



The Lake of Geneva 

the new. The new dates from the time of the building 
of the road, and is made up of commonplace houses 
which are ranged along the route with decorous dullness. 
The older village lies below, as close to the beach as it 
can creep, so that the new Meillerie looks down upon 
its very roofs. It consists of one narrow, unsteady lane, 
dark and not free from smell, that represents the high 
street of centuries ago. The houses, with their over- 
hanging roofs, their wooden balconies, their outside 
stairs, their dormer windows and incongruous doors, are 
effective from an artist's point of view, but would be 
distasteful to a sanitary inspector. They are advanced in 
years, for the dates over the doors show that they belong, 
for the most part, to the commencement of the 18th 
century. The fronts of the houses are in the lane; the 
backs are on the Lake, and are hung about with fishing 
nets, have boats made fast to their door-posts and ropes 
and fish-traps clinging to their walls or lumbering their 
galleries. 

Above the door of one house is a stone upon which 
is carved a crown, together with the words, ''A la 
Couronne. Bon Logis. 1737. P.V." This was, no 
doubt, the chief inn of Meillerie two centuries ago. The 
crown is above suspicion, but the " bon logis " may be 
a matter for divided views. One old house on the beach 
has inscribed on stone above the entrance, '' I. Sache. 
Notere. 1762." So it is evident that at least one 
member of a learned profession lived in this amphibious 
town in times gone by. 

High above the village is the old church with a fine 
square tower of the 13th century, in which are two 
quaint little windows of that period. The choir is old 

140 



Meillerie and its Love Story 

and belongs to the early days of the pointed arch, while 
the body of the church is comparatively modern. Round 
the church, which was formerly a priory of the Great 
St. Bernard, is a cluster of semi-ecclesiastical buildings 
with Gothic entries. 

There is nothing romantic about Meillerie, unless it 
be its situation and its sweet-sounding name, and yet 
there has been a time when Meillerie was flooded by the 
limelight of romance, was a place of rapture to many 
and a Mecca for the passionate pilgrim. It was thus 
endowed because it came, together with Clarens, into 
the scenery of Rousseau's famous story, " Julie ou la 
Nouvelle Heloi'se." This book was published in 1761, 
had an immense vogue and was read all over Europe. It 
reflected the sentiment of the day, to which it gave 
glowing and indeed brilliant expression. 

The ideal attitude affected by the youth of the time 
was that of sorrow. Melancholia was a cult. It was the 
doom of the hero of Rousseau's tale to be shut out of 
Paradise. A hectic passion that could never be gratified 
and a cloud of oppression were his lot. Between him and 
the adored one stretched an abyss of despair. Into that 
abyss they wept and across it they exchanged sobs and 
hysterical moanings. 

The youth and the lady were regarded with acute pity 
by those who read their story, while the more miserable 
they were the more they were adored. Red-eyed women, 
throbbing with sympathy, and would-be-unhappy youths 
came to Meillerie as to a shrine of burning hearts or a 
morgue of dead aspirations. They picked forget-me-nots 
from among the rocks of Meillerie and pressed them 
between the leaves of cherished books. They gathered 

141 



The Lake of Geneva 

rose leaves at Clarens and "bathed them with tears," 
for to bathe things with tears was an emotional habit 
of the time. 

'' Julie " is a notable book, full of fine passages and 
idyllic pictures. It is a book that embraces a wide 
range of human emotions ; although it displays a passion 
that is often a little falsetto in tone and a morality so 
facile that the book has been denounced as "a real 
danger to women and young men."^ It is, moreover, 
marred by its diffuseness, by its quite unendurable length 
and by the cumbrous form it takes, for the tale is told 
in a series of letters, one of .which may alone cover twenty 
pages. 

For the sake of those ,who may have forgotten the 
story — ^and for the relief of the many who may lack the 
patience to read it — I append a brief precis of the doleful 
tale, since Meillerie is a place of no interest whatever 
apart from Julie. 

Julie, the heroine, was the only daughter of noble 
parents. The family resided at Clarens. The mother 
.was an ineffectual and negative lady, but the father was 
proud and violent and typical of that variety of parent 
known on the stage as the '' heavy father." The hero, 
Saint-Preux, was of humble origin but well educated. 
When the story opens he was giving lessons to Julie 
as a casual tutor, with the approval of the tepid mother 
but without the knowledge of her husband. The teacher 
and his pupil fell in love with one another. The father, 
when he found that Saint-Preux was taking no payment 
for his instruction, forbade his services unless he accepted 
an appropriate salary. Saint-Preux declined to take 

1 *' Le L^man," par Bailly de Lalonde. Tome i, page 349i. Paris, 1842. 

142 



ji Meillerle and its Love Story 

money for improving his Julie's mind and was, therefore, 
told somewhat curtly to go. 

The lovers could now only come together in secret, 
their chief place of meeting being a little shrubbery 
or thicket which came to be known as the Bosquet de 
Julie. Vandal builders have passed over this hallowed 
spot Uke a swarm of locusts, so that the bosquet has 
vanished and in its place are shops, garages and gas- 
works. 

Julie felt the new position difficult, for her conscience 
was tender. She therefore banished Saint-Preux to 
Meillerie. Here he raved and wept. He longed, he 
said, to die at her feet, his brain reeled, his heart was 
torn to pieces, while his agony consumed him like a fire. 
He threatened to end it all by suicide, for he wrote, 
" the rock is sheer, the lake is fathomless and I am in 
despair." 

He probably lodged at La Couronne, the inn in the 
dismal lane. He would sit on the rocks of Meillerie 
and gaze at Clarens until he .was nearly demented. 
With a spy-glass the cure lent him he could make out 
Julie's house and the garden in which she walked. He 
frequented a grotto where he could sigh in solitude. 
The grotto is said to have been swept away by the 
quarryman, but there is no evidence that it ever existed. 

Julie sank into an appropriate state of nervous 
prostration and became so ill that Clara, a sympathetic 
cousin, secretly begged the lover to return. He did. 
After an explosion of rapture he proposed elopement. 
Julie declined, pleading her duty to her parents. 

Saint-Preux again went into banishment. About 
this time an English peer (cautiously called '' Lord 

143 



The Lake of Geneva 

B ") entered upon the scene. This nobleman, when 
intoxicated, made remarks about JuUe that Saint-Preux 
considered insulting. Saint-Preux struck him, and was, 
in due course, challenged to a duel. Julie intervened 
in a very charming and diplomatic letter. The peer 
apologized and became the lovers' dearest friend, prac- 
tically adopted Saint-Preux and provided him with an 
income for life. 

Lord B, then, with great daring, interviewed Julie's 
father and begged that tyrant to allow Saint-Preux to 
marry his daughter, as the youth was now possessed of 
suitable means. The father, spluttering with rage, 
refused to contemplate a proposal so wounding to his 
pride of race. The English peer then took the lover 
away so that his mind might be diverted by the 
vicissitudes of travel. This involved endless letters of 
description dealing with familiar spots and many weary 
dissertations upon most things under the sun. 

Now, on a sudden, an event happened in the quiet 
home at Clarens which had the effect of a thunder-clap. 
Saint-Preux 's letters to Julie were discovered by the 
easily inflamed father. There followed a cyclone of 
violent denunciations, of harsh sayings, of weeping and 
wringing of hands, of sobbing in locked rooms. In the 
hush after the storm the terrified Julie found herself 
compelled to marry a Mons. Wolmer, who was " nearly 
fifty" and, at the same time, dull, plain and prosaic. 

Julie had two children and claimed to be, in time, 
not unhappy. She, however, continued her correspon- 
dence with Saint-Preux. Mons. Wolmer was a man of 
eccentric mind and unusual views, for when he learned 
the story of his wife and her lover he promptly invited 

144 



Meillerie and its Love Story 

Saint-Preux to come and stay with them. Saint-Preux, 
of course, came. The meeting with his JuUe was moving 
beyond expression, although it must have been tempered 
somewhat by the ponderous presence of Mons. Wolmer. 

Saint-Preux continued to Uve with this exceptional 
couple for an indefinite period. The conduct of the two 
lovers was beyond reproach, for Julie was immaculate. 
Saint-Preux became the tutor to the children of his dear, 
and there fell upon this strange household such peace 
as may be found among the ashes of a smouldering fire. 

At the end JuKe dies. Sad to say, she is long in 
dying, and her farewell utterances exceed in length any 
which literature has hitherto given to the world. She 
leaves behind her a letter for Saint-Preux telling him 
that her love has never wavered and that to the end she 
was his and his alone. With this letter — the sweetest 
and most pathetic of them all — the story closes. 

In the year 1816, in the month of June, Byron 
and Shelley came to Meillerie, drawn there solely by 
adoration of Julie. Shelley considered the poor village 
''enchanted ground," for it had been the place of exile 
of Saint-Preux.^ They sailed down from Montalegre, 
which is close to Cologny, a suburb of Geneva. They 
were both very earnest young men, both a little touched 
by the miasma of melancholy and both spellbound by 
the story of Saint-Preux and his beloved. They, no 
doubt, recited passages of the book as they sailed along, 
for with " the divine beauty of Rousseau's imagination " 
they were both infatuated. Byron at the time was 
twenty-eight and Shelley twenty-four. 

Near Meillerie they were overtaken by a sudden squall 

1 " History of a Six Weeks' Tour." London, 1817. 
K 145 



The Lake of Geneva 

which nearly rent the sail from the ship and drove it 
half under water, so that they were in great danger of 
being swamped. Byron was a fine swimmer. He threw 
off his coat and, standing with his legs apart on the 
rolling deck, was prepared to do heroic deeds. Shelley 
was not so prepared. He was no swimmer. He felt 
that death was upon him, but his greater fear was that 
his friend, in his determination to save him, would lose 
his own life. He therefore clung to the seat with both 
hands, determined that he would sink with the vessel. 
He also had removed his coat, and one may assume that 
from its pocket protruded the yellow cover of the book 
that had lured them to apparent death. 

Nothing tragical followed, for the vessel was blown 
into the harbour of St. Gingolph, and the two poets 
stepped ashore with their dripping coats on their arms. 
The episode had some fascination for them, since it was 
at this very spot and in a gale of like temper that Julie 
and Saint-Preux were nearly wrecked in an excursion 
they took on just such a summer's day. 

Later the two dreamers sailed to Clarens and walked 
with bared heads in the sacred bosquet. Here they 
picked flowers, which they imagined Julie had herseK 
planted, and scattered the petals to the breeze, so that 
they might be wafted to the adored one, for they felt 
that her spirit still hovered in the well-remembered 
grove. 



146 



XXIV 

JOHN EVELYN AT BOUVERET 

JOHN EVELYN, aged 26, the squire of Wootton, 
was in 1646 at Milan, .which he considered ** a 
sweate place." He was proposing to cross the 
mountains to Geneva. With him were certain friends 
and, among them, a Captain Wray, who provided what 
playwrights call ' ' comic relief " in a somewhat dramatic 
company. Wray is described as "a good drinking 
gentleman " who had recently bought a pretty nag from 
an innkeeper for eight pistoles.^ He had the unfortunate 
habit, both when drunk and sober, of firing off his gun 
if he was the subject of any exceptional emotion. He 
also had with him a dog jvhich he had brought from 
England and which he claimed to be a water spaniel, but 
which Evelyn affirmed was only " a huge, filthy cur." 

At Milan they were invited to dine at a palace by 
a total stranger who had picked them up in the street. 
This incautious man described himself as a '' Scots colonel 
who had an honourable command in the citty." After 
dinner the colonel was anxious to display his horses, so 
the party adjourned to the stables. The colonel mounted 
a horse in order to show off its paces, but unfortunately 
the gallant officer "was a little spirited with wine," so 
spirited, indeed, that he was thrown, was badly injured, 

1 A pistole was worth 16s. 2d. 
147 



The Lake of Geneva 

and died next day. Evelyn, who had already been chased 
down the streets as a spy when he was found peeping 
into a house to see ''the tapissries," thought that the 
sooner they left Milan the better. So they hurried off 
in the morning. 

Having crossed the Lago Maggiore in a boat, they 
reached the foot of the Alps and proceeded to climb up 
to the Simplon Pass. There was, in those days, no 
road over the pass, but merely a track. The month 3vas 
September and the weather bad. They could only get 
mules to ride, while Wray's pretty nag carried the 
luggage. 

The journey was unpleasant in the extreme. Evelyn 
loathed a mountainous country. He hated " the strange 
horrid and fearfuU craggs and tracts onely inhabited by 
beares, wolves and wild goates." He hated the terrible 
roaring of waterfalls and the bridges composed only of 
a felled tree over " cataracts of stupendious depth." He 
hated the people for " having monstrous gullets or wenns 
of fleshe growing to their throats, some of which were 
as big as an hundredpound bag of silver." He disliked 
their " puffing dress, furrs and barbarous language " and 
.was, above all, disgusted with the '* very infamous 
wretched lodging" that they provided, for in one place 
he lay on a bed stuffed with leaves ' ' that crackled and 
did so prick his skin thro' the tick that he could not 
sleepe." 

Near the Simplon Wray's ''filthy cur" chased a 

herd of goats down the rocks into a river. The villagers 

declared that one was killed in this stampede, and 

demanded "mony." Wray, under the influence of 

emotion, fired off his gun ; the party spurred their mules 

148 



John Evelyn at Bouveret 

and tried to bolt. They were stopped by the enraged 
villagers, were dragged off their saddles, deprived of 
their arms and hustled into the room of an inn, where, 
in due course, " a score of grim Swisse " (the elders of 
the place) condemned them to pay a pistole for the goat 
and ten more for attempting to ride away. 

They came upon much snow; managed to cross the 
pass and began to descend. Here Wray's horse slipped 
over a precipice and, rolling down the slope, landed on 
a bank of loose snow. Wray was so moved by this 
behaviour of his horse that he was about to fire at it — 
according to his habit when deeply stirred — but was 
restrained by his friends. He contented himself with 
hurling stones at the horse, with the result that the 
aggrieved animal began to plunge, fell over another 
precipice and rolled so far down the slope that it took 
the travellers two miles by the path to reach it. They 
found ''the pretty nag" unnerved and benumbed, but 
otherwise unhurt. 

Finally, after wading through what Evelyn calls an 
ocean of snow, they reached Brigue. Here they found 
that ''almost every doore had nail'd on the outside a 
beare's, wolfe's or foxe's head and divers of them all 
three : a savage kind of sight." They had now only to 
follow the Rhone to the Lake of Geneva. They still 
met with adventures, but of a minor type. Evelyn was 
rejoiced to be out of a country " so melancholy and 
troublesome"; but he continued to find the mountains 
" horrid " and hated the people, because he found them 
"very clownish and rustically clad after a very odd 
fashion, for y® most part in blew cloth, very whole and 



warme." 



149 



The Lake of Geneva 

In a few days they reached Bouveret, arriving in 
the evening, travel-stained and .worn. Evelyn made for 
the inn, where he demanded a room, explaining that he 
was so exhausted he must go to bed immediately. The 
landlady regretted that there was not a vacant chamber 
in the house. This would not do for the masterful squire 
of Wootton. He would have a room, and that at once. 
One can imagine him pounding upstairs and stamping 
along the corridor, smacking his leg with his riding whip 
and demanding at each door who occupied this room 
or that. 

One chamber, the landlady said, was occupied by 
her daughter, who was in bed. This was enough for 
the squire. The daughter must be turned out and sleep 
elsewhere, as he was so fatigued that he must lie down 
at once. The good woman expostulated, became voluble 
and excited, shrugged her shoulders, waved her head to 
and fro and stretched her hands out with the palms to 
heaven. It is probable that Evelyn understood but little 
of her patois. He seems, however, to have caught some- 
thing about changing the sheets. Changing the sheets ! 
Bah ! He would have no changing of sheets ! Turn 
the girl out, and he would jump into bed at once, as 
he was almost too tired to stand. 

The girl was turned out. Evelyn seized the room 
and, throwing off his clothes, jumped into bed. He 
found the bed warm. In fact, he found it very warm, 
for the girl had smallpox and had been in a high state 
of fever. 

Next day Evelyn and his friends hired a '' bark " 
and sailed to Geneva. It will be no matter of surprise 
that soon after his arrival at that city he was down with 

150 



John Evelyn at Bouveret 

the smallpox. He felt so ill that he thought his very 
eyes would drop out. It was a trying illness, for he 
was nursed by a Swiss matron whose " monstrous 
throat " filled him with alarm whenever he awakened 
from a troubled sleep and saw this dreadful woman with 
the bulging neck hanging over him. 

He was in bed fifteen days and confined to his room 
for five weeks. The illness was expensive, for he had to 
pay 45 gold pistoles to the keeper of the inn and 
5 pistoles to his doctor. He gives a good description of 
Geneva as he saw it, and .was much heartened when he 
was well enough to sally forth and play a game at 
*'mall." He says "this towne is not celebrated for 
beautifull women," and yet the susceptible Captain 
Wray fell in love with one of them and was so mightily 
enamoured that he was unable to discuss any plan for 
their future journey, nor even to think upon it. 

Ultimately they all went down by boat to Lyons. 
From there they appear to have struck across country 
to Orleans. At Orleans, Wray, whom Evelyn speaks of 
as '* our mad captaine," was left behind. It may be 
surmised that Wray, when he saw his friends pass out 
of sight, w^as so overcome by his feelings that he again 
let off his gun. 

It is to be regretted that Captain Wray kept no 
diary, for he was a man of sentiment and of varied 
attainments who appeared to attract adventure. The 
amorous Wray, with his nag, his unruly dog, his passion 
for gun-firing and his love of drink, must surely, on his 
way back to England, have met with incidents which 
would have been worth recording. 



151 



XXV 

ACROSS THE RHONE 

JUST as the western end of the Lake at Geneva 
appears to be closed by a dam or barrier of houses, 
so does the Lake on the east appear to be brought 
to an end against a barrier of trees. In neither case 
does there seem — at first sight — to be a gap through 
which the Rhone could either enter or escape. It is not 
until Bouveret is left behind and the steamer is making 
its way to the opposite shore that the Rhone can be 
seen to dart out of the thicket in which it has been 
hiding and make for the open. Its waters are turbid, 
tired-looking and the colour of potter's clay. They 
blunder into the Lake, where they form an eddy of 
dirty water in a pool that is clean. 

There is no romance about the entry; no suggestion 
of the far-off glacier melting in the sun; no idea of 
welcome. There is simply a sense of an intrusion and 
a regret that the water is so thick and so unpleasing. 
The Lake seems to feel this, for although the two join, 
as they must, they do not mix. They keep apart. A 
hard line separates the clear blue from the muddy grey. 
The river seems to feel it too, for, after its first fouling 
of the Lake, it disappears as if it dived to the bottom 
out of shame. 

There is no view of the Rhone Valley more delectable 
than that from the Lake, as the steamer crosses from 

152 



»' 




TOWER AT PORTE DU SEX 




CHESSEL CHURCH 



Across the Rhone 

shore to shore. The valley is long and wide; its walls 
are the flanks of mountains; its floor is a '' level mead," 
dotted .with trees and as green as the Lake is blue. 
There is no sign of a river, of a road, nor of any work 
of man. As the valley makes its way into the unknown 
the light that fills it becomes whiter, the colours fade, 
all outlines cease to be distinct and it ends in a mist 
above which rise lilac- tinted peaks capped with snow. 

Not far beyond Bouveret and in the floor of the 
valley is the Pont du Sex — the last bridge over the 
Rhone before it reaches the Lake. Guide book after 
guide book has burst into rapture over this bridge, a 
venerable, wooden bridge which was roofed over from 
end to end. It has been described as the most picturesque 
object on the Lake, has been spoken of as " poetical " 
and declared to be '* a wonder." It was built in 1889 
by a carpenter from Martigny named Roulier, with the 
help of his son-in-law. Before these two self-sufficing 
carpenters built the bridge the Rhone was only to be 
crossed by a ferry-boat from Chessel. The old bridge 
was replaced in 1905 by one of iron, a bridge so ugly 
as to be really heroic. This latter work can claim to be 
a wonder — a wonder of f rightfulness. If there be per- 
fection in ugliness, this mass of dreadful iron has reached 
a point beyond which imagination cannot aspire. It 
had to come. It fulfils the functions of a bridge; it is 
strong; it is safe. The dear old, delightful bridge was 
none of these things. It was merely beautiful. It 
shook in the wind ; it bent to the flood. It could carry 
a company of pattering goats, but the ox- wagon made it 
afraid and the motor car caused it to shake and tremble 
like a very old man. 

153 



The Lake of Geneva 

By the bridge is an ancient gateway, the Porte du 
Sex. On one side of it is a precipice, and on the other 
is a tower as steep. The tower bears the date 1676. 
Behind it is a surly and determined-looking building, 
with windows heavily grilled with iron and with shutters 
painted in the brave colours of the canton. This chateau- 
fort was built in 1597 to command the entrance into the 
Rhone valley. It was rebuilt in 1676, as the date on 
the tower confirms, and was for long the residence of 
the chatelain of Bouveret. The building was much 
damaged by the inundation of 1902, when the whole 
floor of the valley was under water as far up as Vouvry, 
which is a kilometre above the Porte du Sex. 

Across the bridge the road leads through a flat and 
luxuriant country where are many trees and fields which 
sing of the goodness of the land. Then comes the little 
hamlet of Chessel, a perfect realization of the hamlet 
of the simple life. It has an ancient church as small as 
itself. Its stone steeple is anterior to the 16th century. 
The church — restored in 1777 — is the type of church 
that a child would build with a box of bricks, for it has 
the tower and the steeple that the toy-maker supplies. 
It may be inappropriate to apply the term '• comical " 
to a place of worship, but Chessel church is comical, just 
as a young puppy is comical. It is so immature and so 
assuredly a church in its babyhood. It has a little vaulted 
choir, a tiny pulpit and a small recess that would be a 
side chapel if it were not used to store wood for the 
stove. Moreover, the church stands in an orchard, and 
when seen through a cloud of pink and white blossoms 
is a picture of simplicity. 

Beyond Chessel and still in the Rhone Valley is the 

154 




NOVILLE 



Across the Rhone 

village of Noville. It would probably call itself a town, 
for it has a Maison de Ville where serious documents of 
State are pasted on the wall. Noville is untroubled by 
the world, is away from the beaten track and the tourist 
knows it not. It is unspoiled and is a village that belongs 
to the *' real " country. It has many charming houses; 
some with wide wooden balconies piled the one above 
the other, some with inviting outside stairs, as well as 
cottages which are almost buried in climbing roses and 
are as bright with flowers as a church door on a wedding 
day. The place is a mixture of a farmyard and a village. 
The cow-shed opens its pungent doors by the side of 
the shop, while the manure heap and the stack of winter 
wood find prominent places in the main street. 

The pride of Noville is its ancient church, which is 
mentioned as long ago as 1177 in a bull of Pope 
Alexander III. The square ivy-covered tower is sur- 
mounted by a curious stone steeple which only an 
architect could fitly describe. The church has been 
intelligently restored. The Swiss habit of smothering 
anything antique with plaster has been abandoned. The 
walls show the bare stone, while every structure of 
interest — Romanesque or Gothic — appears to have been 
piously preserved. The side chapel belongs to the 15th 
century, while the choir shows traces of paintings of a 
century earlier. 

By the side of the church is a beautiful old house of 
such charm that it is worth a journey to Noville to see 
it. It has a glorious roof, double ogee windows with 
transoms and shutters painted in bold stripes of white 
and green. It would belong, apparently, to the late 
16th century. 

155 



The Lake of Geneva 

Probably there are very few who will be concerned 
to know that at Noville in the year 107 B.C. the Helv^tes 
— the tiresome people who would persist in crossing the 
Geneva bridge — defeated the Romans in masterly fashion 
and killed the consul and also his nephew. 

The road across the Rhone Valley ends at Villeneuve, 
which is on the Lake side, has a pier and is the terminus 
of the tram-line from Vevey. It is curious that a place 
called the New Town should be one of the oldest towns 
on the Lake. It was a very important Roman settle- 
ment, and during the Middle Ages was a town of 
consequence. The early traveller may never have heard 
of Geneva or Lausanne, but he knew Villeneuve. Ville- 
neuve stood on the road between Italy and Gaul, for 
the one available pass across the mountains was, at that 
time, the Great St. Bernard. It not only stood on the 
road ; it held it as an outpost of Chillon. 

A vast company of people passed through Villeneuve 
— merchants and pedlars, minstrels and men-at-arms, 
pilgrims on their way to Rome, people who were seeking 
a new world and others who were fleeing from an old. 
Villeneuve exacted a toll from all who passed through 
its gates. In 1286 in 213 days the collector of dues 
dealt with 2,211 bales of French and Lombard cloth, 
1,448 bundles of wool and hides, 2,568 loads of salt and 
810 packs of merchandise.^ The tolls collected in 1279 
amounted to 345 hvres, which is calculated to represent, 
in the coinage of to-day, half a miUion francs.^ Ville- 
neuve, moreover, had much to sell, not a little to buy, 



1 " Autour du Lac Leman," par Guillaume Fatio. Geneva, 1902. 

ton d 

156 



2 " Dictionnaire Historique du Canton de Vaud." Tome ii, p. 789. Lausanne, 
1921. 



Across the Rhone 

and vast amounts of money to change. Its one long 
street was thronged the week through; its warehouses 
were packed; its shops and its booths were the wonder 
of all who found their way into this Vanity Fair. A 
vast number of Jews and Lombards were attracted to 
the town by its prosperous trade. They were not well 
received by the people. In 1348, when the '' Black 
Death" was raging, the Jews of Villeneuve were 
accused of poisoning the wells between Clarens and 
Vevey. They were arrested and imprisoned at Chillon, 
were tortured and confessed. The people of Villeneuve 
were so infuriated that they burst into the castle, dragged 
the Jews out and burnt them alive in the road. 

Owing to many causes Villeneuve began to decline 
towards the end of the 14th century. Fewer and fewer 
travellers passed along the road, the Customs receipts 
dwindled in proportion, and the once crowded market- 
place became quieter and at last almost still. 

In 1236 the pious Aymon, fourth son of Thomas, 
Count of Savoy, founded in the town the Hospital of 
St. Mary for the relief and comfort of all pilgrims who 
passed along the road as well as of the sick who might 
fall by the way. Aymon himself was stricken with 
disease, and this hospital was his offering of gratitude 
to Heaven for such years of life as he was spared. It 
is said that there were times when as many as 600 loaves 
were given out in a day and when there were no fewer 
than one hundred sick persons within the hospital walls. 
The Hostel of St. Mary had a large staff of priest- 
physicians and, for long after Aymon's death, was fitly 
maintained by the house of Savoy as well as by money 
collected from wealthy travellers and grateful patients. 

157 



The Lake of Geneva 

In later years the hospital ceased to be of service, but 
it was not given up without a struggle. There were 
few, if any, patients, it is true, but there were still 
large funds to treat. So the place became — as one author 
terms it — une retraite de consolation for the hospitalier 
and his friends. Thus in 1659 the controller of the 
empty hospital enjoyed a pension of 400 silver florins; 
his .wife came in for 125 florins and the baker for 112; 
while the woman cook drew 40 florins, together with 
4 barrels of corn, 4 ''chars" of white wine and 2 of 
red.^ Villeneuve had ample leisure to enjoy this scandal. 
Old Villeneuve must have been a very picturesque 
spot. It was surrounded by a wall and possessed three 
gates. An old drawing depicting one of these gates 
shows what a sturdy and trim place it was in the days 
of its glory. ^ At that entrance to the town which looks 
towards Chillon were a great square tower, a chapel to 
the Virgin and the Hospital of St. Mary already named. 
These were all built by Aymon about the year 1236. 
The tower, with the chapel at its foot, stood on one 
side of the road, the hospital on the other. The hospital 
has been entirely swept away and a school built in its 
place. The tower — a square solid block — still stands. 
The lower part is old and with little doubt dates from 
Aymon's time, but the upper part, with its faintly 
pointed arches, is more recent, although still some 
centuries old. The chapel, which will have been more 
than once rebuilt, has been converted into the Maison 
de Ville. It bears over the door the arms of the town 
and the dates 1236-1876, the latter being the year of 

1 " Dictionnalre Historique de Vaud." Tome ii, 1921. 

* " Hlstoire du Canton de Vaud," par P. Maillefer, p. 455. Lausanne, 1903. 

158 



Across the Rhone 

its final restoration. Within will be seen a fine Gothic 
vault, which forms the roof of a school, on the one side, 
and of offices on the other. These buildings are by the 
side of the railway station through which will thunder 
the Simplon express that now, in a flash, carries through 
Villeneuve travellers who, in old days, toiled through the 
town on foot, in litters, on horses or on mules. 

As to the Villeneuve of the present time it is needless 
to say that it shows no traces of its former splendour. 
It has gone to the other extreme, and is now without 
a bustling traffic, without anything that could be called 
business and very nearly without life. A promenade 
runs along the Lake shore. It is lined with the usual 
chpped planes and also with a superb row of standard 
roses. The town is composed of the '' one long street " 
through which the pilgrims tramped and down which 
the tram-car now rattles. There are a few houses bear- 
ing such dates as 1580 and 1596, but beyond these figures 
they show small evidences of antiquity. The town itself 
is drab, low-spirited and purposeless, and apparently 
stupefied by centuries of utter dullness and by the con- 
viction that it has no longer any place in the world. 

It can claim one charm — the view that it affords of 
the take and its great mountains and of the magic valley 
of the Rhone. The church of St. Paul (said to have 
been founded in 1166) is even more uninteresting and 
more dreary than the town. The present building dates 
from the 15th and 16th centuries, affects the Gothic style, 
has a tower which might have some attraction were it 
not smothered in plaster, and a church which — as Read 
mildly puts it — is *' sadly disfigured." 

The great house of Villeneuve was that occupied by 

159 



The Lake of Geneva 

the distinguished Bouvier family. It stood near the town 
gate and was (and is indeed still) the last house on the 
right on the road to Aigle. It was practically destroyed 
by the fire of May 4, 1409, which threatened to make 
of the town a heap of ruins. In Read's time it consisted 
of two parts, of a large house and a smaller one, with 
a tower the height of which had been reduced. It had 
then a fine stone doorway and narrow grated windows, 
and above all a cellar which Read was — for a special 
reason — delighted to find intact. 

The house has been recently modernized, but the 
general features (of the large house and the small and 
the low tower) have been preserved. The stone doorway 
has vanished and with it probably the cellar. The story 
of the house, as told by Read, is as follows.^ 

In 1588 Charles Emmanuel of Savoy determined to 
possess himself once more of the Pays de Vaud. He 
collected an army of some 5,000 men at Ripaille, together 
with appropriate artillery, and ships to carry his forces 
across the Lake. He expected a good deal from the 
army, but still more from treachery on the part of certain 
notables of Lausanne, for a feature in the programme 
was to be a rising in that city on behalf of Savoy. 

The chief conspirator in Lausanne was D'Aux, the 
burgomaster. He was in the habit of sailing over to 
Evian to discuss this precious plot with his Savoy friends. 
Another prominent traitor was his nephew, Ferdinand 
Bouvier, of Villeneuve. He was the lieutenant governor 
of the Castle of Chillon and at the same time warden of 
the hospital at Villeneuve. He was a man in the prime 
of life, being thirty-five. 

» " Historic Studies in Vaud, Berne and Savoy, ' by M. Read. London, 1897. 

i6o 



Across the Rhone 

The landing of the duke's army and the rising in 
Lausanne were arranged for a certain day in December. 
But no fleet came in sight and the sleepy streets of 
Lausanne were disturbed by nothing more sensational 
than a dog fight. Two things had happened. A severe 
gale had prevented the duke's ships from leaving Ripaille 
and the plot had leaked out. The latter fact was due 
to the practice — still in vogue — of one friend confiding 
to another the details of the affair ' ' in the strictest 
confidence." It was passed on, in this way, from mouth 
to mouth until it came to the knowledge of the Bailiff 
of Lausanne. D'Aux was warned, also in the strictest 
confidence, that ''things were coming out." So he 
bolted to St. Sulpice, where he obtained a boat that 
carried him to Evian. 

The information reached the Bailiff of Lausanne in 
the following manner. The bailiff was dining with 
Ferdinand Bouvier at the Castle of Chillon. They were 
boon companions and firm friends. The dinner was, no 
doubt, excellent and the wine of the best. It was a 
jovial evening, the conversation was genial, and any 
boatman rowing by the castle wall would hear the 
laughter that re-echoed across the table. 

As the two — a little red in the face, perhaps — leaned 
back in their chairs to enjoy the last flagon of wine a 
messenger entered with a letter for the bailiff. Annoyed 
at the interruption he opened the letter petulantly, and 
as he read his face became graver and graver. Looking 
across to his ruddy companion, he said, " My friend, it 
pains me to the heart, but I have orders to arrest you." 
Bouvier, suddenly become pale, could only say stiffly, 
''You must obey orders. I am at your disposal; but 

L i6i 



The Lake of Geneva 

allow me to go to Villeneuve under any guard you like 
so that I may put my affairs in order." 

The baiUff consented, but the two spoke no more. 
One can imagine the silent room, Bouvier still sitting 
at the table with bent head, cowed and shamed, and hisi 
guest standing by the window and muttering over and 
over again, " Ferdinand a traitor! " 

Bouvier and his guard marched to his house at 
Villeneuve. On arriving there he suggested that the men 
would like some refreshment and directed them to the 
cellar, telling his servant, no doubt, to see that they had 
plenty and that they had it strong. They found it so 
unlike the barrack wine that, in a while, they were all 
too drunk to have thought of either their mission or their 
charge. In the meantime the Governor of Chillon slipped 
out of the garden door and, fleeing through the night, 
reached Savoy in safety. 

He left his wife, Marie du Crest, behind — an excellent 
lady to whom he had been married eight years. She was 
arrested, taken to Chillon, and put to the torture. By 
a rope attached to her wrists she was hoisted up the 
pillar which stood in the centre of the torture chamber 
while red-hot irons were applied to her feet. It was a 
terrible ordeal, but the gallant woman kept her teeth 
clenched and refused to betray the man who had left her 
to her fate. As nothing would induce her to speak, she 
was released, and returned with her poor charred feet 
to the now desolate house at Villeneuve. 

Of all those who took part in this sorry drama, the 

only one who stands out as an heroic figure, among the 

company of traitors and cowards, is the brave and loyal 

Marie du Crest, who could be faithful unto death. 

162 



-c- 

FROM THE RHONE TO LAUSANNE 



XXVI 

THE THREE TOWNS 

THE Rhone Valley occupies the whole of the 
eastern extremity of the Lake, being bounded on 
either side by masterful mountains which form 
the walls of the stupendous outlet. One flank of these 
mountains is continued along the Swiss or northern 
shore, rising (as on the opposite coast) directly from the 
water's edge, but providing ground enough at their foot 
to accommodate the united towns of Territet, Montreux 
and Clarens. On one of the promontories which stand 
out from the mountain-side is Glion, and above it the 
vast white hotel of Caux; while between Territet and 
Villeneuve are the heights of Rochers de Naye, which 
attain an altitude of 6,710 feet above the sea level. At 
Clarens the hills drop away and there opens up a wide 
valley sloping gently to the Lake. It is triangular in 
outline, with its base on the shore, where are Vevey and 
La Tour de Peilz; while on one flank are the Pleiades 
and on the other Mont Pelerin. Far up on the floor of 
this broad gap in the hills is the famous Castle of 
Blonay. 

Between Vevey and Lausanne the coast is uninterest- 
ing and forms, indeed, the dullest part of the Lake 
shore. It is represented by a range of low hills which 
is covered with vineyards, planned in stiff, monotonous 

165 



The Lake of Geneva 

squares and rows. As Lausanne is approached the trees, 
the fields and a freer, kindlier country appear again, so 
that the lake-side ceases to be a tedious bank of chess- 
board patterns and cubist sketches. For some reason — 
based probably upon early Biblical teaching — there is an 
impression that a vineyard should be beautiful. It may 
have been so in the days of the Song of Solomon, but 
now, what with staking and weeding, pruning to the 
ground and spraying with sulphate of copper, a modern 
vineyard (except for a week or so in the autumn) affords 
but an uninspiring spectacle. Gazing upon this bank, 
ruled and lined like an exercise book, one fails to 
appreciate the rapturous declaration, " My beloved is 
unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of 
En-gedi." 

The Three Towns are very happy in their position in 
the great scene. Between the blue of the Lake and the 
blue of the sky there rise the mountains just named. 
They are, at this point, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. 
This range is no mere bank. Its variety is infinite, for 
it is thrown into folds by many a gorge and jagged by 
many a peak. It is green with every variant of that 
colour, since between the forests of holly-green firs are 
patches of steep down of the tint of a geranium leaf and 
as smooth. The mountain where it meets the Lake is 
fashioned into bays and capes most beautiful to see, and 
here the trees come down to the very pebbles of the 
beach. 

It is along the strand of these blue coves that the 
Three Towns cluster. Viewed from across the water they 
appear as a line of bright colour, a very broken line 
fashioned out of tints of white and pink, of yellow and 

i66 



The Three Towns 

faint blue, and punctuated by a thousand dots, which 
are windows, and capped by splashes of brown, which are 
roofs. All these details are reflected in the Lake with 
undiminished brilliance. The line is broken, here and 
there, by a clump of trees in a garden, by the spire of 
a church, by tall poplars, by a white balustrade and by 
many a glint of sun on glass. So broad is the Lake and 
so towering are the hills that these far-famed places, with 
their thousands of inhabitants, seem, at a distance, little 
more than a row of bright and shapely stones. 

The Three Towns, in their combined attractions, form 
the most popular resort in this part of Switzerland. 
Their popularity is easy to understand. They command 
the finest view that the Lake affords. They face south. 
They are protected by the great hills from the north 
wind — the cynical and uncharitable bise. They know 
not the fog. They are, above all, very modern and 
furnish every comfort that the most fastidious can desire. 
They toil not, neither do they spin; but exist only to 
afford joy to the visitor. The visitor is, indeed, their 
sole commodity, their sole export and import and the 
object of their being. 

The welfare of the Three Towns depends upon the 
stranger within their gates. It is amazing what that 
individual requires. His needs are made manifest by 
the multitude of shops and by their complex variety, by 
food collected from all quarters of the earth, by theatres 
and casinos, by steamers to carry him on the water as 
well as by electric or funicular railways to drag him to 
the tops of mountains in order that he may enjoy a view. 
All this he wants to secure an appropriate delight in 
living. Yet the first visitors who came to Montreux — 

167 



The Lake of Geneva 

the men of the Bronze Age — needed so little and could 
do so much for themselves. Given food, fire and a 
strong axe, they were probably as happy as the most 
favoured in the Three Towns are to-day. The machinery 
of happiness has become, in fact, extremely complicated, 
and the things that the pampered " cannot do without " 
are as the sands of the sea in multitude. Yet with this 
intricate machine and these things that cannot be denied 
the Three Towns deal with composure and success, and 
so the world speaks well of them. 

The Towns are still in their youth, the least mature 
being Territet, which has spnmg up, like a crop of 
brightly- tinted mushrooms, on a bank by the Lake-side. 
Old prints show Territet as a stretch of green meadow- 
land with a cottage or two, some trees and an enticing 
footpath. Montreux, a town of over 22,000 inhabitants, 
is older. The name implies a district rather than a 
town, for in ancient times Montreux was a collection of 
hamlets scattered about the foot of the hills. It is only 
of recent years that the houses have spread down to the 
margin of the Lake. A print of 1823 ^ shows this bustling 
and brilliant town as a mere village with a church perched 
high up on the slope. The domain belonged in the 11th 
century to the Bishops of Sion and then, in the 14th 
century, it was possessed by Savoy. The Count of Savoy 
required at that time from the cure an annual dole of 
four pounds of wax to be used for his comfort when he 
came to Chillon. As some abatement to this tax the 
cure was allowed to fish in the Lake in Lent. 

The origin of the old church of Montreux is lost in 
the mists of the past, but it emerges with the dignity 

1 " Voyage pittoresque autour du Lac de Geneve." Paris, 1823. 

I68 




SEA-GULLS ON THE LAKE 



The Three Towns 

of a parish church in 1228. It was dedicated to St. 
Vincent, the patron of vine dressers, and was placed by 
the terraces of vines, where it became a sanctuary for 
those who worked among the grapes. The church was 
built in its present form in 1507. It stands in the 
quarter called Les Planches, and was at one time reached 
by the slothful by means of a funicular railway, now 
extinct. 

The growth of Montreux has been rapid. In 1815 
it could boast only of a few rustic inns. In 1835 the 
first pension appeared — the Pension Visinand — at Sales, 
now an insignificant suburb of the modern town. Then 
followed very timidly some small hotels. One hotel, 
" The Swan," boasted of no fewer than 30 beds. In 
1850 the population (which had been 2,833 in 1831) rose 
to 3,181, and Montreux had then eight hotels or pensions, 
with a complement, between them, of 250 beds. The 
Dictionnaire Historique, from which these particulars are 
obtained, states that in 1854 the cost of living en pension 
at Montreux was three francs a day. This will fill the 
modern grandchild with envy and call forth regretful 
comments upon the good old days. It should be remem- 
bered that the three francs included the privilege of 
going to bed with a solitary candle, of washing in a small 
bowl of cold water and the use of a bedroom without a 
carpet. 

Those who would see something of old Montreux 
should visit the suburbs of Les Planches and Sales. They 
stand high up in the shadow of the mountain, and were 
once villages with nothing between them and the Lake 
but vineyards and green fields. Now the new town has 
climbed up to them, has infected them with some 

169 



The Lake of Geneva 

modernity and, but for the protecting hill, would have 
elbowed them off the ledge to which they cling. 

These two little quarters of Montreux have, however, 
still some independence and show even now some of 
their old quality. They are separated from one another 
by the Gorge du Chauderon, a narrow but deep cleft 
in the rock, at the bottom of which a stream tumbles 
headlong, showing flashes of silver through a cloud of 
trees. Les Planches has its village fountain bearing the 
date 1754, its old-world cafe with a hanging sign, and 
many ancient and picturesque houses which go back to 
such years as 1583 and 1620. One of them has quite a 
fine round tower, with a pointed roof and some 17th 
century windows. Sales is a little less interesting, but 
its ways are narrow and steep and, indeed, there is a 
long winding stone stair which climbs from the foot of 
the town to its summit as if the place were a tenement 
house. 

The old church of Montreux is just above Les 
Planches. It stands alone on a ledge of rock. Behind 
it is the precipice of Glion, which projects from the 
mountain-side like a gigantic altar. In front of the 
church is a delightful terrace shaded by trees. Beyond 
the terrace wall an abrupt declivity drops headlong to 
the fashionable town, where are the new houses, the great 
hotels, the kursaal, the tramways and. Beyond them all, 
the everlasting Lake. 

The church is superb and of great interest. It has 
been religiously preserved, is of grey stone, possesses a 
lofty square tower and spire, and has a belfry lit by 
Gothic windows. On either side of the nave are immense 
round pillars of oyster-grey stone. They are without 

170 



The Three Towns 

capitals and form the bases for four round arches. The 
arches, in turn, support a beautiful vaulted roof. The 
spandrels between the ribs are painted, and the whole 
effect is one of great charm. The choir, with its Gothic 
windows, is more modern, but the body of the church 
remains practically as it was in 1509. 

At the end of the terrace and close to the church door 
is a curious stone building, small and square, with narrow 
Romanesque windows and a quite commonplace roof. 
Its interior will afford a surprise. It reveals an exquisite 
little chapel with a groined roof, the ribs of which radiate 
from a single round pillar in the centre of the chamber. 
In architectural detail the chapel follows precisely the 
lines of the nave of the church, and there is no doubt 
but that the two were built about the same period (1509). 
This little building was once the cemetery chapel. Here 
the bones of the dead were deposited and here, in 1522, 
the celebration of the Mass was authorized. It is now 
a salle des catechumenes or Sunday school. This church 
and its chapel are without question the most beautiful 
objects in the whole of Montreux. 

Clarens was made famous by J. J. Rousseau, for it 
was the home of the much-enduring Juhe. A French 
author,^ writing in 1846, remarks, " The greater number 
of the EngHsh who make gibberish of our language 
come here attracted by the memory of Rousseau." That 
fascination no longer has power and the command of 
the French tongue has, at the same time, improved. 
Clarens, although now so very modern, is an old village 
which can boast of the fact that Roman remains have 
been found in its vicinity. It was in the domain of the 

1 " Le Tour du L^man," par A. de Bougy. Paris, 1846. 
171 



The Lake of Geneva 

Lords of Chatelard and, some time in the 14th century, 
was granted the privilege of possessing a mayor. Byron 
resided in Clarens in 1816, which fact is still kept 
prominently in mind. About the middle of the 18th 
century Clarens awoke, cast off its ancient garments, 
and appeared jauntily in the fashionable raiment of the 
day. 

Above the town of Clarens is the cemetery, one of 
the most beautiful on the coast. It stands at the foot 
of the hill upon which is reared the Castle of Chatelard. 
The terrace in front of it commands a memorable view 
of Montreux. In this secluded place is the tomb of 
Henri Frederic Amiel, the author of the melancholy 
" Journal Intime." He died in 1881 at the age of sixty 
(page 20). It is a disconsolate looking memorial in the 
form of a shrunken pyramid of grey stone with panels 
of chilly slate. It is shaded by an unhappy yew tree, 
while the grave at its foot is buried under a shroud of 
irreverent ivy. 



172 



XXVII 

CHILLON 

GHILLON is probably the best preserved mediseval 
castle in Europe. It is certainly the best known 
and assuredly, of all buildings in the .world, is the 
one which has been the most persistently photographed, 
painted and sketched. It must be familiar to thousands 
who have never set foot in Switzerland. Its position is 
exceptionally picturesque. The castle of romance is 
generally perched on the summit of a crag. Here is a 
castle at the foot of a hill, with its foundations in a 
lake. Chillon stands on a small island of rock which is 
approached from the mainland by a bridge. The Lake, 
as it flows between the islet and the land, forms a natural 
moat. 

In front of the castle is a stretch of bright water, 
while behind it is a steep mountain covered with trees 
from base to summit. So immense is the hill at whose 
foot it lies that the castle is completely dwarfed and 
indeed, when seen three miles away, might be but a 
block of carved ivory set on a sheet of enamel backed 
by a cushion of dark green. What adds to the charm 
of the position is the fact that the castle stands entirely 
alone. There is no building — ancient or modern — to mar 
its particular features or to distract the eye from its 
gem-Uke isolation. 

173 



The Lake of Geneva 

Viewed from near at hand Chillon satisfies the 
imagination. It realizes to the full the feudal castle of 
old days, its arrogant display, its hardihood, its brutality, 
its elemental outlook upon life. Here are all the details 
that befit the scene of a mediaeval romance and that 
furnish a background for those thrilling incidents which 
may happen within castle walls. Here stood the draw- 
bridge by the ominous entry ; here are the low-pitched, 
cavernous guard-room, with its great fireplace, and the 
sun-lit courtyards where the pages played at knuckle- 
bones and where the maids, as they passed, lingered to 
laugh vidth them. Here, too, are the turrets where the 
sentries watched, the great keep into which the country 
folk, half -clad and half -crazed, were hurried when the 
Terror was upon them, as well as the dungeons made 
horrible by moans and the clank of chains. Looking 
out upon the Lake are the great hall whose timbers have 
re-echoed the sounds of revelry and the shouts of armed 
men, the justice room, the torture chamber and the little 
balcony where the ladies fed the pigeons. There is no 
detail lacking. There are even the secret stairs cut in 
the walls, so essential in romance, and the postern by 
the water's edge which was a way of escape when all hope 
was lost. 

There has been a stronghold at Chillon from very 
early days, because it held the ancient road which, at this 
point, was but a pass between the mountain-side and 
the Lake. It was not until the 18th century that the 
highway was widened by the cutting away of the cliff. 
Chillon, once the property of the Bishops of Sion, came 
into the possession of Savoy in the 12th century. It was 
the famous Count Pierre of Savoy who may be regarded 

174 




GHILLON FROM THE TLAKE 




GHILLON 



Ghillon 

as the builder of the castle. This turbulent and ever- 
restless man lived between the years 1203 and 1268. 
Chillon remained in the hands of Savoy until the fortress 
was taken by the Bernese in 1536. The last ehatelain 
who held the castle for Savoy was Antoine de Beaufort. 
In January, 1798, the people of Vevey and Montreux 
seized Chillon and so freed it from the dominion of 
Berne. 

Since the time of Count Pierre the castle has been, 
of necessity, many times remodelled or enlarged, and 
thus it is that it shows the work of many and varied 
years. The building, in its general features, belongs to 
a period that ranges from the early part of the 13th 
century to the end of the 16th. 

To describe Chillon would be as complex a work as 
the description of the contents of an antiquary's shop. 
The building has been most skilfully restored, the 
arrangements made for the visitor are perfect, while the 
little leaflet giving the main features of the castle is a 
model of what a guide should be. The land side of the 
castle is commanded by three round towers which rise 
from the moat, are crowned by machicolations and 
pierced by many loopholes. In the central tower is a 
curiously ill-omened dungeon. On a line with these 
three defences is a square tower of the 13th and 14th 
centuries which guards the entry. In the centre of the 
whole mass of buildings and dominating them all is the 
keep, a plain, uncompromising structure of great height 
which is believed to date from the beginning of the 
11th century. 

The Lake side of the castle is represented by a 
rectangular block of buildings in the walls of which are 

175 



The Lake of Geneva 

many beautiful windows. Here is the Great Hall, a 
magnificent apartment ynth four Gothic windows and a 
15th century ceiling, which is supported by massive 
columns of chestnut wood with finely carved capitals. 
Another notable apartment is the Justice Room, with a 
ceiling of sunken squares supported by pillars of dark 
grey marble. Leading from it is '' Room No. 15," the 
most dreaded room in the castle, for it was transformed 
into a Torture Chamber in the 17th century. It is, in 
point of fact, a bright and cheerful room and the one 
that, of all the apartments in the chateau, would be 
selected for a bedroom. It has a pretty 13th century 
window which looks over the Lake towards the setting 
sun. This view of the placid water, with its fisher-boats 
and its sea gulls and the open country on either side of 
it, must have given the first pang of pain to those who 
were led into this fearsome place. The walls are decorated 
in squares of brick-red and grey. The ceiling, upon which 
the eyes of the man on the rack must have rested, is as 
merrily painted in green, white and scarlet as a child's 
toy-box. It may, indeed, be a nursery ceiling. 

The most horrible object in the room is a tall, lean 
pillar which drops from the ceiling like the body of a 
snake. It was by ropes attached to this pillar that the 
victims of *' Justice " were hoisted up while hot irons 
were applied to their feet. The base of the pillar is 
browned and much worn away. The imaginative affirm 
that it has been charred and that it was charred by red- 
hot irons. The pillar has a still more horrid feature. 
It is rudely painted, but at the lower part the paint has 
been scratched away, and the idea cannot be avoided 

that it has been scratched off by the finger nails of the 

176 




A COURTYARD IN CHILLON 





^1 

1 4 




j|i!K|g|i^^i!»L^a 


pBtt^.^ 




■rr-"^^ 


fi^pP 



THE GREAT HALL. CHILLON 



Chillon 

tortured. The most loathsome period in the history of 
this room must belong to the time when witches were 
hunted out and were dragged from their villages to 
Chillon to be tortured before they were thrown into the 
Lake. One can imagine some harmless old crone, tooth- 
less and grey-headed (a scold with a bitter tongue it 
may be) swinging with ghastly contortions from the 
pillar and filling the stone chamber with her ear-piercing 
shrieks. Early in the 19th century, writes Read, an 
ancient chest in the Torture Chamber was examined. It 
was found to be filled with musty, time-stained dqcu- 
ments which, in the course of years, had been depleted 
for the making of cartridges and the lighting of fires. 

In pleasant contrast to " Room No. 15 " is the 
exquisite little Chapel of St. George. It has a beauti- 
fully decorated Gothic roof and four very modest lancet 
windows. It was built in the middle of the 13th century, 
" to which epoch," says the leaflet, " belong the arches, 
bays and some of the paintings." 

There are many other rooms in this rambling place, 
such as the Duke's bedroom, with its immense fireplace 
and blood-red walls, and the Duke's parlour or ** retreat." 
There are, moreover, hollow-sounding corridors, unex- 
pected stairs, quaint courtyards, sudden loopholes that 
seem to jump out at the passer-by, heavily barred 
windows and, on the summit of the walls, the fascinating 
galleries of the patrol. 

Very many people have an acute — if morbid — taste 
for dungeons. To creep down dark steps into an 
undoubted oubliette is evidently one of the greatest joys 
that the visitor to Chillon experiences. The dungeons 
at Chillon are most satisfying to those who have this 

M 177 



The Lake of Geneva 

appetite. They are hollowed out under the main build- 
ing, were constructed between the years 1254 and 1264, 
and are just above the level of the Lake. They consist 
of a series of communicating vaults where will be seen 
the condemned cell, the execution chamber with the beam 
of the gallows, as well as hollow places which even a 
modest imagination can people with wild-eyed, crouching 
wretches, hugging their rags. 

At the end is the main dungeon where Bonivard, 
the prisoner of Chillon, was confined. It is long, narrow 
and grey, and to a large extent cut out of the rock. 
The floor also is of rock. It has a fine vaulted roof 
supported by round columns. To the base of one of 
these pillars Bonivard was chained. The light is admitted 
through narrow, vertical slits which open into round- 
arched embrasures. The place is more like the crypt of 
a church than the deepest depth of a prison. Compared 
with the black, stifling, rat-infested dungeons of mediaeval 
tales, with their mouldy walls dripping moisture and 
their cruelly pinched space, this dungeon of Bonivard is 
quite an oubliette de luxe. It is lofty, dry, well lit and 
well ventilated, cool in summer and by no means chilly 
in December. The light is good enough to read by, 
while those who could clamber into the window recess 
would obtain a view such as no modern prison could 
provide. The one sad note about the place is the sound 
of the water rippling against the base of the rock, a 
sound that is half sympathetic, half mocking, at one time 
caressing and at another maddening with despair. 



178 




THE PILLAR IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER, GHILLON 



XXVIII 

THE PRISONER OF CHILLON 

BONIVARD, the Prisoner of Chillon, has two 
personaUties. There are the Bonivard of fact and 
the Bonivard of fiction. The two men are totally 
unlike. One is not even the shadow of the other. For 
the Bonivard of fiction Byron is in large measure respon- 
sible, since his famous poem has made this much pitied 
prisoner known the world over. Byron, in a note to the 
poem, confesses that ''he was not sufficiently aware of 
the history of Bonivard ' ' when he penned the lines at the 
inn in Ouchy. The Bonivard of the poem is represented 
as a martyr to his religion, as a pious man who was 
thrown into a dungeon because he fought ' ' for the God 
his foes denied " and because he was prepared to suffer 
death '' for tenets he would not forsake." The Bonivard 
of fact did not owe his imprisonment to any tenets nor 
to any matter of faith. His religious views were never 
in question. He was confined in Chillon by the officers 
of Savoy because he was a fighting man they feared, 
because he was a danger to the State and because he had 
hunted down natives of Savoy and killed them whenever 
the occasion offered. He had, indeed, maintained for 
long a vendetta against Savoy, had fought Savoy tooth 
and nail, and, therefore, when he was captured by the 
enemy he was very reasonably immured in a prison. 

179 



The Lake of Geneva 

Bonivard was a learned man according to the standard 
of the time, was of good family, was daring and fearless, 
a gallant soldier and, above all, a staunch patriot. He 
had two grounds for his hostility towards Savoy. In 
the first place. Savoy was the avowed enemy of Geneva 
and had proved herself to be an enemy who was both 
treacherous and relentless, while, in the second place, 
Bonivard had a grave personal grievance against the state 
he harassed. 

This was obviously not the devout man about whom 
Byron wrote with so much sympathy and with such fine 
pathos ; nor was this the man who is figured in a modern 
painting placed in the guard-room of the Castle of 
Chillon. This picture has for its scene the famlhar 
dungeon. Seated on the floor with his back to a column 
is a dignified man with a calm and benevolent counten- 
ance. He is handsomely dressed in semi-academical 
attire. He is spotlessly clean; his moustache and beard 
are neatly trimmed. It only seems a pity that a man 
so elegantly clad should be sitting on the ground. By 
his side are the conventional heap of straw and pitcher 
of water which are inevitable in prison scenes. Attached 
to him, in such a way as not to disturb his carefully 
arranged robes, is a chain of such size that it would hold 
an elephant. This is the Bonivard of the poet, a noble 
figure, but not ''the prisoner of Chillon." 

The real Bonivard, on the other hand, would be 
represented by a fierce looking man with wild and 
frowsy hair, unshaven and unwashed, clad in an unclean 
shirt, in ragged breeches and still more ragged hose. 
Possibly by his side would be some fragment of paper, 
for Bonivard appears to have spent his solitary days in 

i8o 



The Prisoner of Chillon 

writing verses which were not too serious, being, in fact, 
merely ''trifling fancies and ballads." 

Bonivard was born at Seyssel, near Bellegarde, in 
1493. When he was 17 he succeeded his uncle as prior 
of St. Victor. The monastery was in Geneva, standing 
on the site now occupied by the Russian church. The 
office ,was a well-paid sinecure. Bonivard never took 
holy orders, but was concerned with the monastery solely 
as a layman. He seems to have been a cheery, light- 
hearted lad who, with a cock's feather in his cap and a 
sword by his side, swaggered about Geneva as one of the 
rollicking company w^ho were going to beard Savoy. So 
troublesome did these gay conspirators become that in 
1519 — when Bonivard was 26 — the Duke of Savoy took 
serious steps to put an end to their many acts of 
aggression. The result was that Bonivard had to fly 
disguised as a monk, was captured and imprisoned by 
the duke for two years in the Castle of Grolee. 

The revenues of the monastery of St. Victor were 
largely derived from lands in Savoy, and thus it was that 
Bonivard, on his release, found himself robbed of a good 
deal of his estate. He then, aided by a few hired men, 
began a guerrilla war of his own against Savoy. He had 
serious reverses and ran deadly risks, but still he held 
on, impelled by his dashing and adventurous spirit. 
Nothing dismayed him ; nothing damped his ardour. He 
would fight Savoy so long as he had breath in his 
body, and if none stood with him he would fight alone. 
Bonivard and his raids became a terror to the Savoyards. 
He kept the country around Geneva in a condition of 
alarm. Although a price was placed upon his head, his 
craft and courage saved him from arrest. 

i8i 



The Lake of Geneva 

In 1580 Bonivard (then 37), Vent to Seyssel to see 
his mother. On the return journey through Vaud he 
was betrayed, was captured in a wood above Lausanne, 
and brought in triumph to Chillon. For the first two 
years in the fortress he seems to have been well treated 
and to have occupied a room near to that of the 
governor; but at the end of this time, either on account 
of his own misconduct or by order of the duke, he was 
transferred to the dungeon and chained to one of its 
pillars. 

On March 28th, in the memorable year 1536, Chillon 
was taken by the Bernese and Bonivard was set free. 
He returned to Geneva a poor man. He was granted 
a small pension and was commissioned by the authorities 
to write a history of the city. This he did; but the 
work was written in so racy a style that the punctilious 
Calvin declined to sanction its publication. The work 
apparently did not see the Hght until 1831. 

Bonivard, the chastened dare-devil, found Geneva 
under the rule of Calvin a dour and melancholy city. 
He was not infrequently in trouble. He was charged 
by the Town Council on one occasion with playing back- 
gammon and with absenting himself from church and, 
at another time, on account of some impropriety with 
a serving maid. 

Bonivard's chief troubles, however, were matrimonial. 
He had four wives after his release from prison.^ The 
first one — a very worthy lady — died in 1543. The 
second was an elderly person who had already had two 
husbands. This lady he beat. He was charged before 

* ** Lake Geneva and its Literary Landmarks," by F. Gribble. London, 
1901. 

182 



The Prisoner of Chillon 

the Council for this treatment of his .wife; but the 
Council dismissed the charge on the ground that Madame 
Bonivard well deserved the beating she got. In fact, it 
was the wife who was reprimanded by the bench, and 
not the husband with the stick. The lady, what with 
being beaten at home and being reprimanded abroad, 
seems to have taken a dislike to Geneva, for she fled 
from the city and the unsympathetic eyes of the world. 

The third wife, Pernette Mazue, was a widow. She 
appears to have been negative and inconspicuous and to 
have escaped the tongue of gossip. The fourth wife, 
Catharine de Courtavone, was exceptional and a very 
disturbing person in the house of an aged scholar. She 
was a runaway nun, young and pretty. Bonivard had 
given her shelter out of kindness. The Council, hear- 
ing of this charitable act, regarded it as a scandal and 
ordered Bonivard to marry the young person. The nun 
was not enthusiastic about the match, while Bonivard 
was so opposed to it that he implored to be let off, 
pleading his age (he was then 69) and his infirmities. 
The Court insisted that the scandal could only be 
repaired by matrimony, so, amid sighs and groans, the 
marriage took place. The end was a tragedy. Three 
years after the wedding the wife was accused of immoral 
conduct with an unfrocked priest. The aged Bonivard 
himself did not charge her and, indeed, pleaded for her 
and gave evidence on her behalf. The sentence passed 
by puritan Geneva was terrible. The ex-priest was 
beheaded and the runaway nun was sewn up in a sack 
and thrown into the Rhone. 

Bonivard died in 1570 at the age of seventy-seven. 

183 



XXIX 

BARBILLE OF CHATELARD 

BEHIND Clarens, on a round and very prominent 
hillock covered .with vines, rises the Castle of 
Chatelard. Its position is commanding and its 
isolation impressive, for it stands alone, like a sentinel, 
in the vast opening of the valley. The chateau consists 
of a massive square building of stone capped by a 
high-pitched roof. A line of machicolations crowns the 
biscuit-yellow walls, the upper portions of which are of 
brick, as in the Chateau of Lausanne, to which Chatelard 
bears a close resemblance. The windows are few and 
have been modernized on the lines of the 18th century. 
The general impression conveyed by the castle is that 
of stern simplicity, self-confidence and immense strength. 
By the side of the keep is a small square tower which 
looks as if it had budded off from the parent building 
and would grow up like it in the course of time. On 
the north side is a low and more modern house with a 
round tower at its north-west corner. The outworks 
which once protected the castle on the hill-side have 
vanished, together with the enceinte wall. A trace of 
this wall, however, survives, together with (on the north 
side) the base of a tower and the head of a stair which 
is reputed to have once led to a subterranean passage of 
much mystery. The chateau has in recent years been 

184 



Barbille of Chatelard 

very judiciously restored by M. Marquis-Du-Bochet, in 
whose family it still remains. At the foot of the castle 
hill is the hamlet of Tavel. The name is significant, as 
will appear in the account which follows. 

Chatelard was in its earliest days a very great 
possession. The domain extended from Vevey to Chillon. 
Some memory of its vastness still clings to it, for the 
present commune of Chatelard includes no fewer than 
32 villages and hamlets as well as the town of Clarens. 
The territory, which was originally held by the Abbey 
of St. Maurice, came into the hands of the Bishops of 
Sion about the commencement of the 11th century. 
The history of Chatelard — a turbulent and very complex 
story — is admirably set forth in the Dictionnaire His- 
torique. It is a story of gradual disintegration, of a 
loss of lands here and of a loss of rights there, of many 
successive owners and of quarrels and fighting. It is a 
story with many odd details bearing upon the eternally 
thorny subject of taxation. For example, the people in 
1355 are found to be complaining of certain aides which 
had to be forthcoming on three special occasions. First, 
when the lord became a chevalier; secondly, when he 
made a journey across the sea, and, thirdly, when one 
of his daughters married. This is interesting as an early 
protest against compulsion in the matter (1) of subscrib- 
ing to a testimonial, (2) of paying another person's 
travelling expenses and (3) of giving wedding presents to 
exalted people you do not like. 

In the 13th century the Montreux portion of the 
domain was acquired by the Count of Savoy and the 
much curtailed estate of Chatelard came into the hands 
of the family of La Sarra. The chateau was built in 

185 



The Lake of Geneva 

1440 as a stronghold and place of refuge by Jean de 
Gingins. He founded the barony of Chatelard, which 
carried with it the prerogatives of an autocratic prince. 
The chateau was taken and sacked by the Germans in 
1476, but was repaired in 1502 by Francois de Gingins. 
It then passed through the hands of many holders, among 
whom are the AUinges of Coudree, of which house 
mention is made in Chapter ix. In 1596 Chatelard was 
sold to Gabriel de Blonay, and in this family it remained 
until the end of the 17th century, when the heiress, 
Frangoise de Blonay, married Etienne de Tavel, ban- 
neret^ of Vevey, and so made the de Tavels lords of 
Chatelard. 

The wedding was romantic, not in itself, but by 
reason of the fact that it led to a de Tavel becoming 
master of Chatelard, and in this way it served to show 
how discreet and judicial are the adjustments brought 
about by the Hand of Fate. 

Some fifty years earlier Barbille Nicola'ide de Blonay, 
the beautiful daughter of the Lord of Chatelard, became 
betrothed to a de Tavel. The youth went away to the 
wars and was absent for so unreasonable a period that a 
certain Jean de Blonay (Lord of Bernex in Savoy and a 
remote relative of the lady) took the opportunity of 
making love to her. He succeeded well, so well that 
the two became ardently attached. Barbille 's father, 
very properly, declined to consent to their marriage or, 
indeed, even to sanction their acquaintance. Thereupon 
Jean of Bernex hid, one winter's day, among the trees 

^ The title is derived from banniire, and signified originally a standard-bearer 
in war. Later the " bannerets " assumed the honour of knighthood, and were 
known as chevaliers bannerets or leaders of feudal troops. In the 17th century 
the title was purely honorary. 

i86 




THE CASTLE OF CHATELARD 



Barbille of Chatelard 

by Chatelard, abducted the lady according to the methods 
of the time, and carried her off to Savoy, where they 
were married on January 9th, 1642.^ All this was in 
accord with the tradition and the procedure of mediaeval 
courtship. 

In due course young de Tavel returned from his 
protracted service at the front. He, no doubt, hurried 
breathlessly up the steep hill of Chatelard, in front of 
his men, clasping in his hot hand some rare present for 
his bride that was to be. At the entry there was no 
Barbille to welcome him with open arms, but only the 
old Lord of Chatelard, stuttering and vague, who blurted 
out in gasps that his misguided daughter had bolted off 
with another man and had incontinently married the 
same. 

The returned warrior naturally became very violent, 
stormed and stamped and ''said things" about the 
thieving Jean of Bernex. The family of the missing 
lady joined heartily in the clamour he made. The result 
was that between the houses of Chatelard and of Bernex 
there arose what — in modern parlance — would be called 
*' a fearful row." So fearful was it that the dispute was 
referred, in heated terms, to the judgment of the King 
of France and the Duke of Savoy. As Jean and his 
abducted bride lived on the French side of the Lake, it 
is no matter of surprise that the two potentates decided 
in favour of the young couple and apparently considered 
that Jean was justified in running off with the lady. 

This decision did not satisfy the de Blonays, who 
brought the matter before Their Excellencies of Berne. 
As Chatelard was on the Swiss shore of the Lake it is, 

iRead. Op. cit. 

187 



The Lake of Geneva 

again, no matter of surprise that Berne sided with 
Barbille's bereaved parent and with the distracted young 
man who had just returned from the wars. Berne, with 
great sternness, at once ordered Jean to report himself 
at Chillon. 

Jean, safe in Savoy, merely laughed at this order, 
but Their Excellencies, who considered it no laughing 
matter, proceeded to pass sentence in default. The 
sentence was in these terms. The damsel must be at 
once returned to Chatelard as if she were a bundle of 
stolen goods. Jean must pay to de Tavel 350 double 
louis in compensation for the loss of his bride and for 
the laceration of his heart, while the old Lord of Chate- 
lard was to be reprimanded for his negligence in 
allowing so pretty a girl as Barbille to bolt out of the 
castle on a winter's night. Failing compliance with 
these terms, Jean was to be arrested. 

But Jean was safe in Savoy. The silly folk of Berne 
amused him. He supposed they could not realize how 
ridiculous they were. Anyhow, he defied arrest, declined 
to pay a single louis to de Tavel or to anyone else and, 
above all, declined to surrender his loyal and well-beloved 
Barbille. 

So nothing came of all these strong and imposing 
actions. The storm died down, the sky was blue once 
more, and possibly — when the summer came — Jean and 
Barbille would climb the hill above Bernex and, looking 
across the water at the old Castle of Chatelard, would 
regard it as the scene of the most fortunate moment in 
their lives. 



i88 



XXX 

VEVEY 

'' "W TEVAI is a town more beautiful in its simplicity 
%/ than any I have ever seen." Thus wrote 
^ Shelley in the year 1816. And even now, 
after the passage of a hundred years, the same can be 
said with assurance of the venerable town. By the side 
of its gorgeous neighbours, Lausanne and Montreux, 
Vevey retains a simplicity and modesty which is, by 
comparison, very becoming. It does not profess to be 
beautiful nor to be brilliant, but it claims to be comfort- 
able, and in that purpose it succeeds. It is matronly 
rather than modish. Its outlook upon life is that of the 
sober middle-aged. If it lacks the boisterous enthusiasm 
of youth, it lacks also the listlessness of advancing years. 
It is what H. G. Wells would call " a nutritious town." 
It is much in favour with the English, who are attracted 
to the place because it is homely and steady, not puffed 
up nor given to vanity, and is possessed, moreover, of a 
climate that is agreeable and reasonable the whole year 
round. 

Vevey is large, having a population of 13,644, but 
then it has always been a place of importance because 
it stands upon the highway that led from Italy into 
Gaul. The Romans, who were no mean judges in the 
selecting of sites, had a settlement at Vevey. It occupied 

189 



The Lake of Geneva 

the eastern end of the present town, standing above the 
Rue du Simplon and therefore some little way from the 
Lake. The Burgundians, too, made much of the place, 
for the last of the kings of Burgundy had a palace 
here and, moreover, a Burgundian cemetery has been 
unearthed in the precincts of the town. 

Vevey has seen in its time a great deal of trouble, 
and that is, perhaps, why it is now so subdued and 
serious. It stood on the boundary between two disputing 
powers, like a miniature Belgium, and was, therefore, 
the scene of violent collisions and disturbance. It was 
besieged or pillaged or burnt jvith some regularity. 
Consistent fighting between orthodox and properly con- 
stituted combatants it could tolerate, but it was liable to 
attacks from irregular bodies, made up of outcasts and 
scoundrels, who were very trying. For instance, in 1444 
Vevey was laid waste by a most pernicious company of 
freebooters who called themselves Ecorcheurs or flayers. 
Attacks delivered by ordinary, nicely drilled soldiers 
were bad enough, but an onslaught by men who made 
a profession of flaying people alive was horrible to a 
degree. 

As certain children have diseases worse than others, 
so Vevey seems to have suflFered all its misfortunes in an 
exaggerated form. If it had the plague, it had it very 
badly, and if it ,was flooded, it was flooded beyond all 
reason. If it was set alight, it burned like a bonfire, 
as was the case in the conflagration of 1688, when 230 
houses were reduced to ashes. 

Vevey has had, in succession, a number of overlords 
and has experienced a change of ownership which must 
have been most unsettKng. In the 11th century the 

190 



Vevey 

Bishop of Sion possessed one part of Vevey and the 
Bishop of Lausanne the other, an anxious position, for 
bishops in those days were among the most grasping and 
cantankerous of men. The Counts of Savoy at one time 
forced themselves on the place, being very pushing land- 
grabbers, while at other periods the seigneur was the 
Lord of Blonay or the Lord of Oron or some other 
potentate. The lords of Blonay in the 18th and 14th 
centuries had, in fact, two seigniorial houses in Vevey. 
One — known always as the chateau — was very strong, 
had a high square donjon with heavy walls. It stood on 
the edge of the Lake on the spot now occupied by the 
Hotel des Trois Couronnes. Its position serves to 
explain the name of the adjacent street — the Rue du 
Chateau. 

A still more involved period was reached when Vevey 
was divided into a number of separate bourgs, subject to 
diflferent lords. It then resembled a building made up 
of self-contained flats let to quarrelsome tenants. Each 
bourg had its castle, its walls and gates, its drawbridge 
and its moat. Each also had its chapel and its bake- 
house. Of such chapels Read names seven. Remains 
of certain of the chateaux survived even into the 18th 
century, at which time the boundaries of the old 
'' quarters " were still indicated on the maps. 

Vevey in the days of the old bourgs must have been 

the most picturesque town on the Lake. From the water 

sprang a line of walls and towers, with here and there 

a water gate or a little quay for boats. Within the 

enceinte rose the square keep of this lord or that, with 

around it many a turret and many a spire and many a 

gabled roof. The lanes, narrow and dark, would pass 

191 



The Lake of Geneva 

between high walls and by weedy moats, by bastions and 
drawbridges with their beams and chains. There would 
be a garden or two, some simple shops with swinging 
signs, a cluster of fisher huts and benches where old men 
sat to gossip. The streets would be made bright, now 
and then, by the banners of knights and the gleam of 
their armour, by the gay jackets of the bowmen and the 
more gaudy liveries of the squires. Here and there, in 
the crowd, would be a monk in a brown frock, a court 
jester giggling at the maids, a singer with a lute or a 
boatman laden with oar and net. The quiet of the lane 
would be broken by the sound of chapel bells, by a chant 
sung in a convent, by revellers in a tavern or by a 
trumpet call from the vault of a guard-room. 

In the 16th century, or before, Vevey was surrounded 
by ramparts and possessed eight gates. The walls were 
levelled as the town grew up, so that the last of the old 
defences disappeared in the 18th century. One gate, 
that known as the Villeneuve Gate, seems to have clung 
to its old position until as late as 1803, when the pickaxe 
and crowbar of some town improvement committee laid 
it low. 

The houses of Vevey, although old at heart, have all 
been modernized, and so have lost their picturesqueness. 
It is of little interest to stand before a quite modern 
building with plate-glass windows and be told that it 
was once a palace of the kings of Burgundy, or to con- 
template a church that might have been built a year ago 
and be assured that it occupies the site of a convent of 
St. Claire which was founded in 1422. One of the few 
old relics in Vevey is the statue reputed to be that of 
its patron saint, St. Martin. The saint stands on a 

192 



Vevey 

column, at the foot of which is a tinkling fountain. He 
is depicted in the guise of a Roman warrior. The ferocity 
of his features has been toned down by wind and rain, 
while the sun has tanned him, from helmet to buskin, 
an unpretentious yello.w. As the protector of the city 
he is hardly more impressive than Han Andersen's Little 
Tin Soldier. 

The house that was occupied by Edmund Ludlow, 
one of the judges of Charles I, has been long pulled 
down and its site covered by the Hotel du Lac. Three 
of the so-called regicides came to Vevey, namely, Ludlow, 
Lisle (who signed the death warrant) and Broughton 
(who read the sentence of death). As Charles II was 
known to have sent emissaries throughout Europe to 
hunt down the murderers of his father and to compass 
their deaths, these three fugitives passed a life of great 
uneasiness. They were welcomed by the people of 
Vevey with effusion and were given a public reception 
as well as a present of wine. A tablet on the wall of 
the Hotel du Lac speaks of Ludlow as " the defender 
of the liberties of his country ' ' and states that he had 
lived at Vevey " with the sympathy of the inhabitants " 
from 1662 to 1693. Lisle did not feel comfortable at 
Vevey, so he moved to Lausanne, where he was promptly 
assassinated, being shot through the back in August, 
1664. 

The care of Ludlow gave the authorities of Vevey 
considerable concern. His house was fortified and 
guarded. Every boat that approached the beach was 
viewed with suspicion. Every tramp who lurched into 
the town was seized and overhauled with a thoroughness 

which was exhausting and painful to him. Innocent 

N 193 



The Lake of Geneva 

tourists who with curious eves strolled gaping through 
the streets were dogged by soft-footed men and peeped 
at from behind corners and from dark entries. As for 
the ''doubtful character," he was hunted like a mad 
dog, and was glad enough to find himself, bruised and 
breathless, in the hospitable dust of the high road. 
Ludlow's chamber was provided with a bell at the 
sound of which all citizens .were ordered to arm and rush 
to the Englishman's house, seizing on the way any 
strangers they might chance to meet. Ludlow lived in 
such a state of persistent unrest that he must have 
suffered from what modern physicians call " anxiety 
neurosis." Gribble gives a very striking picture of his 
home life, in which he describes " Lieutenant General 
Edmund Ludlow anxiously searching the horizon, with 
one hand screening his eyes and the other gripping the 
bell-rope." ^ Both Ludlow and Broughton are buried at 
St. Martin's, Vevey, where a tablet has been erected to 
their memory. 

The fine church of St. Martin, standing as it does 
on high ground above the town, forms the landmark of 
Vevey. Its great square tower, capped by four little 
turrets, can be seen for miles and from both sides of 
the Lake. The church is said to date from the 12th 
century, but was rebuilt in its present form three 
centuries later. Restorations and a liberal coating of 
cement have robbed it of much of its interest, but the 
grand old tower has happily escaped the hand of the 
spoiler. 

Vevey possesses pleasant public gardens, a fine 
parade, a picturesque clock tower and a vast market 

» Op, cit., p. 157. 
194 




A STREET IN VEVEY 



Vevey 

square. In this Place du Marche are the house of 
Madame de Warens as well as the hotel, La Clef, where 
Rousseau stayed in 1730. The lower part of the latter 
building is occupied by modern shops, but the upper part 
has probably been but little changed in the last two 
hundred years. 

Those in search of the picturesque should visit Corsie . 
Corsier is virtually a suburb of Vevey, but it would 
repudiate such association, for Corsier, although now 
only a village, has held a high place in the land and can 
boast of a history almost as distinguished as that of its 
more imposing neighbour. It has a wonderful church. 
The outside of the building is deplorable, presenting 
merely a cube of recent plaster pierced by modern and 
anomalous windows. The church within is low, plain, 
severe and most impressive, having the appearance rather 
of a crypt than of a church. It presents a nave and 
aisles built up of massive round arches supported upon 
heavy square pillars of immense size. Its age is obviously 
very great. 

The choir is less ancient, for it pertains to the 15th 
century. It is in the Gothic style and has a fine vaulted 
roof. On this roof are some very remarkable paintings, 
belonging to the century just named. These archaic 
pictures represent the angel of St. Matthew, the lion of 
St. Mark, the bull of St. Luke and the eagle of St. 
John. The designs ,were brought to light when a coat- 
ing of whitewash was removed from the vault in 1889. 
On the wall of the choir are the figures of angels in 
fresco, each holding a cross surrounded by a circle. The 
church, it is needless to say, has been made a national 
monument. 

195 



The Lake of Geneva 

The village is full of old houses of much charm. 
Opposite to the church is a fine house — now a cafe — 
bearing the date 1592. It has a deep-sunk entry made 
up of a series of diminishing round arches which follow 
a descending stair. On the stone framework of the 
windows are carved a number of quaint and grotesque 
heads. The whole building is a pleasing specimen of 
its period as well as a worthy companion of the church, 
which was already very old when the house was built. 



196 




O 
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H 
O 

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Q 

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O 
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XXXI 

LA TOUR DE PEILZ 

ADJOINING Vevey and now practically absorbed 
by it is the little town of La Tour de Peilz, 
^ once a fortified place whose castle or tower was 
a famous stronghold. The word Peilz, although pro- 
nounced ''paix," has nothing to do with peace. In 
the Dictionnaire Historique it is surmised that it is 
derived from the Roman gentilice '^Pellius." The 
name in 1453 was Tour de Peil. 

La Tour is a very old domain that belonged to the 
Bishops of Sion in the 12th century and was acquired 
by Count Pierre of Savoy by purchase in 1255. The 
chateau dates from this period. Amadeus V, Count of 
Savoy, known in history as Le Grand, made his residence 
at the tower in the latter years of the 13th century. It 
was even then a fortified town with three gates. 

La Tour de Peilz was one of the three great castles 
of the district, the others being Blonay and Chatelard. 
It has had a distinguished and stirring history. The 
Dictionnaire Historique gives a list of its chatelains from 
1288 to 1536. These noblemen possessed at one time a 
wide jurisdiction which, between the years 1314 and 
1370, included even the town of Vevey. The more 
important documents relating to La Tour have been 
made public by M. Naef in an interesting volume.^ 

1 " La Tour de Peilz." Lausanne, 1892. 
197 



The Lake of Geneva 

The gravest period in the history of the Tower was 
in 1476, when it ,was besieged by the Bernese and 
defended by the lord of Chatelard. Its fortijfications 
being in poor condition, the stronghold fell after a 
spirited defence and was submitted to the flames. The 
people of the place were massacred with such brutal 
thoroughness that only eight escaped, and these either 
plunged into the Lake or got away in boats. 

The chateau at this period had three towers, a round 
tower at either end (east and west) and a square tower 
about the centre. As a result of the siege only one 
tower — that on the east — was habitable, and even it .was 
roofless. It was used for a long time as a prison, and 
within its walls the doors of the cells are still to be seen. 
In 1749 the castle was rebuilt. The two round towers 
were repaired, and these remain to this day. The 
square tower was pulled down, while the house that now 
exists was built on a portion of its site. At the same 
time the terrace by the Lake was constructed. The 
chateau of to-day forms a prominent and attractive 
feature of the Lake. It is occupied by Sir Horace and 
Lady Pinching, Lady Pinching being the representative 
of the old and distinguished Swiss family in whose 
possession the Tower has long remained. The chateau 
consists of a solid square building, with modernized 
windows, extending between the two old round towers, 
the one to tEe east being still without a roof. Both have 
been very carefully preserved. On the terrace in front 
of the house are stalwart Lombardy poplars, while 
behind is the moat, which has been incorporated in the 
beautiful garden of the place. By the side of the castle 
is the harbour, full of fishing boats and of craft with 

198 




CHATEAU DE LA TOUR DE PEILZ 



La Tour de Peilz 

great swallow- wing sails. It affords as charming a picture 
of a small freshwater haven as could be imagined. 

The church of La Tour, built in 1794, occupies the 
site of the 13th century chapel of St. Theodule. The 
building itself is of no interest, but the choir, which is 
very small and out of proportion to the nave, is believed 
to be a part of the ancient chapel. It has a faintly 
pointed roof, while the vault of the nave is round. This 
poor little apse has been so smothered with plaster, 
according to the custom of the country, that all traces 
of age or of architectural detail have been lost. The 
tower of the church, with its ingenious stone steeple, 
stands over the only surviving gate of La Tour. This 
gate, which is said to date from the second half of the 
13th century, has been restored with such vigour that it 
might have been built within the memory of a child 
of thirteen. 

On one side of the gate, in the Place des Anciens 
Fosses, is a portion of the old wall of the town. It has 
happily escaped '* doing up," is beautiful with ivy and 
''^ a precious relic of the gallant little bourg. 



199 



XXXII 

THE ESCAPADE OF MADAME DE WARENS 

A GREAT deal has been written about Madame de 
Warens.^ And yet, but for her association with 
^ Rousseau and the pretty, if hazardous, story 
which chngs around Les Charmettes, she would have 
remained unknown to the world except, perhaps, for a 
certain dramatic episode that took place in the church 
of St. Mary at Evian. 

The most moving adventure in this lady's life was 
her running away from her husband at Vevey. It was 
not a creditable enterprise, being, in fact, disgraceful 
from beginning to end ; but it was carried through with 
such coolness, verve and ingenuity as to be a notable 
feat. When a woman, lacking in means, leaves her 
husband's home, alone and .without the romantic 
embellishments of an elopement, the event is apt to be 
a little squalid and drab. It conjures up in the mind 
the picture of a paUid woman, sniffing hysterically and 
creeping on tiptoe out of a chilly house in the early 
hours of the morning, before the world is awake and 
when no one feels too cheerful. Then follow a dis- 
tracted journey, a lukewarm reception at the house of 
an astonished friend and finally much discomfort due to 
remorse, to a scarcity of underclothing and a superfluity 

^ Read's account (" Historic Studies in Vaud," etc.) is one of the most detailed. 

200 



The Escapade of Madame de Warens 

of advice. And yet, in most cases, the poor woman has 
some justification for her act. 

Now, Madame de Warens had no means of her own 
and no justification for her conduct, and yet she carried 
out her coup without the least squalor, without any 
scarcity of clothing, without remorse and without the 
tiresome importunities of moralizing friends. She, 
indeed, absconded in great comfort and accomplished 
with flair what may be termed a running-away de luxe. 
The details of the adventure are as follows. 

Frangoise Louise de la Tour, the daughter of a 
family of position, was born at Vevey in March, 1699. 
She married on September 22nd, 1718, Sebastian de 
Loys, son of the seigneur of Warens. He was twenty- 
five at the time and she fourteen. She was married from 
school, and the bridegroom on the occasion paid her 
debts, which — for a child — were not negligible. As a 
schoolgirl she must have been rather alarming, for she 
was far in advance of her times. She was precocious 
and wrote letters which, for solemnity and precision of 
language, would have done credit to a woman of sixty. 

The young couple settled in Vevey, in a house still 
standing in the Place du Marche, where Madame de 
Warens — aged 14 — set at once to work to '' have a good 
time." She succeeded. She was fond of pleasure, of 
change, of excitement and of cheerful society. Her time 
was soon occupied with parties and picnics, with recep- 
tions, with excursions on the Lake and jaunts in the 
woods. She had a little country house, called Le Basset, 
just above Clarens, and there in the summer many weeks 
were spent. 

As her husband's income was limited, Franyoise 

201 



The Lake of Geneva 

Louise began to find herself with inadequate funds for 
her pleasures. She began to find life dull and to be 
haunted by the spectre of boredom. She had little to 
do in her home, for she had no children. In order 
to make money the ingenious lady started a stocking 
factory at Vevey to produce silk stockings. Unfortun- 
ately the people of Vaud did not wear silk stockings, so 
the business did not prosper. 

Now comes the year 1726. The lady was then twenty- 
seven. She was of middle height, round and plump, with 
fair hair, blue eyes, a dimpled chin and a very pretty 
mouth. That she was fascinating, vivacious, emotional 
and impulsive may be gathered. The husband at this 
time was thirty-eight. He was a poor creature, dull, 
stolid and matter-of-fact, who did his duty according to 
his lights, was unsuspecting and, above all, a ponderous 
bore. He could claim — as he did claim — that he was 
eminently respectable, but he was the last husband who 
would ever have satisfied Mademoiselle de la Tour. It 
must, at the same time, be remembered that a rigid form 
of Protestantism ruled in Vaud at this period and that 
it failed to give full scope to Madame de Warens' 
conception of the ''joy of living." 

The scheme that she concocted in her busy brain 
was on no petty lines. She was to be rid of Vevey, of 
her stupid husband, of her dour friends, of her debts 
and her bankrupt stocking factory. She was to have 
freedom, money, a complete change, every worldly 
comfort and a good social position. It was an ambitious, 
programme, but the lady — incredible as it may seem — 
carried it through to the letter. 

In the autumn of 1725 she started on an exploring 

202 



The Escapade of Madame de Warens 

expedition. She went to Aix ''on account of some 
pains " and visited, in the course of her quest, Geneva, 
Chambery and other places. Savoy pleased her; so that, 
after due investigation, it was to Savoy that she resolved 
to come. In the summer of 1726 she persuaded a 
doctor to advise her to take the waters at Evian for the 
relief of the same '' pains." Her dolt of a husband, of 
course, agreed. She got together some money, ordered 
a brigantine for her journey and proceeded to put her 
luggage on board. The landing place was close to the 
house. M. de Warens, in a letter, says '* she always 
took with her a great deal of luggage." Certainly on 
this occasion she did. She took all her clothes to the 
last ribbon and all her jewellery. She also took the 
entire contents of the plate closet, leaving for her 
husband's use some old spoons and forks and an antique 
salt-cellar. She took all the kitchen utensils she could, 
all the best linen and coverlets and even the mattresses, 
together with odd pieces of furniture. Her husband was, 
of course, ignorant of this compendious outfit, which was 
certainly excessive for a three weeks' stay at a spa. 

He was out for the day when she was busy with her 
packing and also out for supper the same evening. 
When he returned he found her shut up in her room 
and still packing. She advised him (through the locked 
door) to go to bed. At the unreasonable hour of 2 a.m. 
she knocked him up to say good-bye. Being a dutiful 
husband, he accompanied her to the boat in his dressing- 
gown. She took her own maid with her. On parting 
she solemnly handed to her husband — as every good 
housewife should do — ^the key of the plate closet, which 
she said she had carefully locked. She did not inform 

203 



The Lake of Geneva 

him that she had carefully emptied it before she turned 
the key. He, no doubt, expressed a kindly hope that 
her ''pains" would be mitigated by the taking of the 
waters. The amazing lady set sail for Evian on the 
morning of July 13th, 1726, with a smile of supreme 
satisfaction on her face. 

M. de Warens, still deluded and still dutiful, went 
over to Evian to see his lady on August 4th. She was 
most agreeable, but at once asked him to send her a 
certain ''beautiful cane with a golden head" for her 
use in walking when she went to the spa. She begged 
him also to forward Bayle's " Historical and Critical 
Dictionary " in five volumes. She jvas not taking the 
waters nor was she reading dictionaries, but both the 
cane and the books meant money, and she was deter- 
mined to get all she could. She seems to have had just 
one twinge of conscience at the last, for when she bade 
the silly man adieu she said, with a sigh, " My poor 
husband, what will become of you? " He left Evian the 
same day. On reaching Vevey de Warens the deluded 
sent her his gold-headed cane and the learned volumes 
by a special messenger. Had he stayed in Evian a little 
longer he might have heard a great deal, for much had 
happened between the time of her departure from 
Vevey and his dutiful visit. 

Madame de Warens was aware that to live in comfort 
in Savoy she must become a Catholic and, further, she 
was aware that she must get money. Now a convert 
in Savoy was at that moment an asset of importance, 
and if the convert chanced to be the wife of a nobleman 
in Protestant Vaud a person of great spiritual value. 
Frangoise, therefore, had resolved to join the Church 

204 



The Escapade of Madame de Warens 

of Rome, and the next thing was to make money out 
of her conversion. She had already a plan worked out 
in her busy brain. The fact that she left Vevey on 
July 18th was not an accident, for she knew that on 
July 14th the Duke of Savoy (Victor Amadeus II) 
would be at Evian, and would attend the parish church 
in company with the bishop. Here was her chance. 
She went to the church of St. Mary and took her place 
just inside the door. 

What followed may be given in the words of M. de 
Conzie, who was a member of the duke's suite. The 
duke was staying at the de Blonay chateau at Evian 
with the son of that Madame de Blonay who had been 
buried alive at St. Paul, as has been recorded in 
Chapter xviii. M. de Conzie writes : 

" The Prince went to Mass in the parochial church accom- 
panied simply by some seigneurs of his court, among whom 
was the Bishop of Annecy. Scarcely had the duke entered the 
church when Madame de Warens seized the prelate by his cassock 
and threw herself at his feet, saying * In manus tuas, Domine, 
commendo spiritum meum.' The bishop stopped, and aiding 
her to rise, talked five or six minutes with this young penitent^ 
who from thence went directly to the lodgings of the prelate ; 
and as soon as Mass was finished he joined her there." ^ 

The result of this carefully-planned dramatic per- 
formance was a presentation to the duke, a pension of 
1,000 livres a year from that prince and an additional 
income of 1,000 livres a year from the Bishops of 
Annecy and Maurienne.^ The fortunes of Fran9oise 
Louise — aged 27 — were made. 

1 Quoted by Read, op. cit. 

* The joint sum would be equivalent to about £80 per annum, a goodly 
income in those times. 

205 



The Lake of Geneva 

There was just one thing more. She was to go to 
a convent at Annecy and she wanted to leave Evian in 
style. So she told a dire story of a possible pursuit by 
infuriated relatives, and was therefore conducted to 
Annecy by an armed escort provided by the duke. The 
lady seems to have started for Annecy just after the 
visit of her husband on August 4th. 

The messenger whom M. de Warens had sent to 
Evian with the gold cane and the dictionary came 
back on August 7th and, meeting his master in the 
road, bluntly exclaimed, '* Monsieur, you have no 
more a wife ! She left Evian this morning to follow 
the duke to Turin." The information was not quite 
exact, but it was enough for de Warens, who at 
once bolted home and rushed up to the plate closet. 
He found it empty. He then threw open his wife's 
wardrobes. They also were empty but for a few rags. 
He immediately took horse and galloped to Geneva, 
not to regain his wife, but in the hope of retrieving 
some of his stolen property. He failed totally. 

In a little while he received a nice chatty letter 
from the astounding lady, written from Annecy, giving 
all her news and suggesting that he should become a 
Catholic and should pay her a visit in her new home. 
He went to see her as she proposed. She took care 
that the interview was well staged. He saw her in bed. 
She wept picturesquely and begged very prettily to be 
forgiven. He stayed at the inn, but they had breakfast 
and dinner together. She talked mostly about religion, 
but he had not come to Annecy to discuss points of 
doctrine, but to discuss the stocking factory, because, 
as she had become a Catholic, her property in Vevey 

206 



The Escapade of Madame de Warens 

(such as it was) would be sequestrated to the State. She 
signed such documents as he wished, with the result that 
in due course the bankrupt factory became his own. 
He was throughout this crisis a great deal more anxious 
to save something out of the wreck than to secure 
possession of this fluttering, theatrical young woman. 
He writes in a letter to a friend : '* As I quitted her 
she was seized with a sort of faintness which was so 
short that it convinced me she was a veritable 
comedian." 

She had just a few moments of uneasiness, however, 
for long after the Evian exploit she wrote to M. de 
Conzie : 

" My dear friend, will you believe me when I tell you that 
for two years after my abjuration of Protestantism I never went 
to bed without feeling a kind of goose flesh all over my body, 
resulting from the perplexity into which I was plunged." 

A divorce for ' '' malicious desertion ' ' was declared 
on February 24th, 1727.^ 

In 1728 Madame de Warens met with Rousseau, 
then a lad of sixteen. About 1736 she took the pretty 
house, tes Charmettes, just outside Chambery. The 
poor lady died in the town of Chambery, in destitution 
and obscurity, at the age of sixty-three. Her place of 
burial is unknown. Her husband predeceased her by 
eight years. Rousseau's treatment of this kind-hearted 
if erring woman was such as to justify the opinion that 
' ' in the long range of historical personages whom the 
centuries present to us there is perhaps no more repulsive 
figure than that of J. J. Rousseau as a human being. 

^ " Madame de Warens " {M&moires, etc., de la Suisse Romande); par A. de 
Montet Tome iii. 1890. 

207 



The Lake of Geneva 

He is absolutely disgusting." ^ The only plea that could 
be urged on his behalf is that he was undoubtedly of 
unsound mind. 

The house that Madame de Warens occupied in 
Vevey is in the north-east corner of the Place du Marche 
and is now known as the Maison Nicole. It is rather 
hidden from view by a row of new shops. It is a pretty 
house of two stories, has a fine roof and is composed of 
a central part with a wing on either side. The windows 
are modern. The entrance is approached by a double 
flight of steps, and down these very steps the smiling 
lady, with her pockets stuffed with household loot, must 
have tripped when she was on her way to the boat and 
was leaving Vevey for ever. Her country house, Le 
Basset, was demolished in 1889. Photographs of it 
show a small rustic house among the vineyards, very 
simple, but made attractive by quaint windows and a 
long covered balcony on the upper floor. 

1 Read. Op, cit, vol. 2, p. 116. 



208 



XXXIIl 

BLONAY CASTLE 

ABROAD valley, breaking its way through the 
far hills, rolls down to the Lake at Vevey. High 
^ up on the floor of this league-wide slope stands 
the Castle of Blonay. Its position is superb. It stands 
alone on an isolated mound, the one dominant feature of 
the landscape. So it has stood for over seven hundred 
years. It is surrounded by a green, contented country 
of homely meadows and slumbering, shadowy woods. 
Towering above it are the massive heights of Les 
Pleiades, which form the eastern wall of the valley. 

The castle realizes to the full the romance with which 
it has been surrounded for so many centuries. It is 
most impressive when viewed from the lower stretches 
of the valley on a grey day — a November afternoon, let 
it be, about the time of the setting of the sun. The 
castle then stands up against the background of mist as 
a thing of enchantment. Its height appears enormous. 
It is white and spectral-looking, a vast mysterious 
presence rather than a fabric of solid stone. 

As a writer in the Dictionnaire Historique says, the 
family of Blonay is "one of the most important and 
probably the most ancient in the Pays de Vaud." In 
these days of change it is impossible to contemplate 

without a sense of awe a house which has been in the 
o 209 



The Lake of Geneva 

occupation of one family for seven hundred years, and 
is still held by the descendants of that Othon de Blonay 
who led his rough men-at-arms into this quiet valley 
about the year 1000. There was just one break in the 
centuries, when Blonay and its castle were ceded in 
1752 to Rodolphe de Graffenried; but the domain 
returned again to the ancient family in 1806. 

The history of the Blonays provides a moving and 
picturesque story. Among the lords of the castle have 
been heroic men whose deeds are almost mythical, 
Crusaders bearing the banner of the Cross, men who 
have fought beyond the seas, knights whose lances have 
gained glory in the lists, grey-headed men of affairs and 
young bloods who have made the country ring with 
their gallantries. Still throughout the ages their 
trenchant motto has been upheld — ''Purs comme VOr, 
prompts comme V Eclair.^* 

Many must have been the revels within the walls 
of Blonay, many the feasts and many the bridal gather- 
ings. One trivial record throws a pretty light on some 
of the doings at the chateau. It appears that in the 
16th century there was a tournament at the Court of 
Savoy between bachelors and married men. Simon de 
Blonay, as champion of the married, beat the Sieur of 
Corsant, who carried the pennon of the bachelors. As 
the result of his defeat the Lord of Corsant had need to 
go to Blonay to cry mercy of the Dame de Blonay. 
The lady was more than merciful, for the defeated 
champion was lavishly entertained and made much of. 
Among the company there chanced to be the beautiful 
Yolande de la Villette. By her bright eyes de Corsant 
was once more vanquished and brought helpless to the 

210 




BLONAY CASTLE 



Blonay Castle 

ground. Once again he cried mercy and with such 
effect that Yolande became the chatelaine of Corsant, 
while the bachelors lost a gallant member of their 
company. 

The castle was built in 1175 by Pierre de Blonay, 
from which time dates the great central tower or keep, 
which is still the prominent feature of the chateau. 
Blonay has of necessity undergone many changes in the 
course of its long life. It has been remodelled and 
added to from time to time, and yet it is claimed that 
it retains to the present day its original outline. The 
most extensive changes in the building appear to have 
been carried out in the 15th century as a natural result 
of the introduction of firearms. It was originally flanked 
by four towers, of which now only two remain. 

The Chateau of Blonay is less impressive when 
viewed near at hand. It stands, as already stated, on 
a very steep isolated mound covered with grass. It 
takes the form of an immense rectangular building with 
modernized windows. It is ashen- white in colour and 
is surmounted by a chestnut-brown roof. In general 
appearance it has the aspect of a vast, rambling, scarcely 
habitable place, very old, very desolate looking and 
chilled, it would seem, to its inmost walls by the winters 
and bleak winds of centuries. In the centre is the great 
keep, a square, stolid mass, still very sturdy in spite of 
its burden of years. It has a high-pitched roof covered 
with slate-coloured tiles, while just below the eaves is 
a series of rectangular embrasures which date from the 
15th century. The building on the steeper side (that 
facing the Lake) is supported by three immense but- 
tresses. High up on the wall on the east flank is a 

211 



The Lake of Geneva 

very beautiful little turret, with a machicolated gallery, 
perched up near the roof like a dovecot. 

The entrance is gloomy. The main gate, with its 
rounded arch of the 16th century and its heavy sullen 
door, is surmounted by a gallery with machicolations, 
and has by its side windows barred .with forbidding iron. 
Within is a 15th century chapel which has been con- 
verted into a muniment-room. It still retains its altar 
and its benitier, and is still lit by a window which bears 
the date 1577. 

Almost at the foot of Blonay is the pleasant village 
of La Chi^saz with its rare old church — rare not because 
its annals go back to 1228, nor because it has been 
restored with exceptional skill, but rare on account of 
its remarkable ceiling and the fact that it possesses two 
perfectly distinct choirs. The beautiful square tower of 
the church was erected in 1523, while the main walls of 
the building belong to the 14th century. The interior 
presents a spacious nave without aisles. The roof is 
of painted wood. It takes the form of a wide vault 
shaped like the hull of a vast ship inverted. It is, more- 
over, ribbed longitudinally in a manner which strongly 
suggests the planks of a ship. The summit of the arch 
might be the keel as it would appear from the inside. 
Furthermore, there hang from this dome certain 
lanterns which curiously resemble the stern lights of 
ancient ships. The comparison goes no farther, for the 
whole arch is painted a deep blue to represent the vault 
of heaven and is spangled, from horizon to zenith, with 
stars. It is the sky of a night in summer and, indeed, 
the worshipper on such an evening might imagine the 
church to be roofless and that he sat beneath the 

212 




k -iTA 




BLONAY CASTLE : THE MAIN GATE 



Blonay Castle 

stars and could feel the breeze sweeping up from 
the Lake. 

The two choirs are side by side but are separated by 
a very massive wall. Through the thickness of the 
masonry a passage has been cut which leads from one 
choir to the other. They both belong to the 13th 
century. The south choir contained, in ancient days, 
the high altar. It has three lancet windows arranged 
in a pyramid and is — taken as a whole — a perfect 
specimen of its period. Here lie buried members of 
the Cojonay family, as is recorded on a stone bearing 
their blazon of the three birds. The north choir is of the 
same date, but its two large pointed lights were intro- 
duced in the 16th century. On the north wall is a very 
beautiful little 14th century window of particular charm. 
This choir was a chapel of St. George, which was 
founded by Aymmonet de Blonay and his wife. Mar- 
guerite d'Oron, about the middle of the 14th century. 
It must be to this pious couple that we owe the exquisite 
little window in the chapel wall. Marguerite deserted 
Blonay, for after the death of Aymmonet she had two 
other husbands, the third being Jean, Count of Gruyere, 
who seems to have persuaded her to transfer her share 
of the domain to Amadeus VI of Savoy. On the vault 
of this choir is still to be seen, in faint colour, the 
golden lion of the great house of Blonay. 

The village of La Chiesaz is made up of ancient 

houses, some of which are so curious that it would seem 

as if they had been designed for the sole purpose of 

being picturesque. The outer walls of many of the 

cottages display designs in black and white, illustrating 

village scenes and depicting village characters. Some of 

213 



The Lake of Geneva j 

the figures are life-size, some are smaller. All are j 

realistic and delightful in their vivacity and good spirits. | 
They are the work of M. Beguin, an artist of note who 
was a native of La Chiesaz. They appear to have been 

painted about thirty-five years ago. The practice of using • 

the outside walls of houses as leaves of a sketch-book is i 

probably only to be observed at La Chiesaz. The result ; 
is so remarkable that the village is generally known as 

Le Village illustre. { 



214 



XXXIV 

GRUYERES 

IT will be remembered that when Counsellor Knapp 
put on the Goloshes of Fortune, in mistake for his 
own, he found himself (as Hans Andersen tells us) 
carried back three hundred years and stumbling through 
a town which was strange and unreal. Now, without 
the help of magic shoes, there is to be found, among 
the hills of Fribourg, a town which is curious and 
improbable and which will carry those who come to it — 
be they counsellors or common men — far back into the 
past. The name of the town is Gruyeres.^ It is a 
remote, shy place which would fain be left in peace. 
Its people are almost as isolated as are dwellers on an 
island and still speak, among themselves, a Romanic 
dialect called Gruerien. 

The scene amidst which the town is set is such as 
best becomes it. It lies in a country of its own which 
was once a little kingdom, independent, self-contained 
and strong. Of this country of Gruyere it was the 
capital, while svithin its walls was the court of its 
autocratic prince. It was precisely such a country, such 
a town and such a prince as figure in the simplest fairy 
tale. To realize the landscape it is necessary to conceive 
a wide plain of meadow land, as green as the sky is blue. 

1 It is reached most readily from Vevey or Montreux by electric railway. 

215 



The Lake of Geneva 

a plain .which is traversed by a stream, is dotted by a 
cottage or two and occupied by many cows. Around this 
arena — as if it were the wall of a vast colosseum — is a 
circle of mountains which enclose it and hide it from 
the .world. 

In the expanse itself is a solitary hill, long, narrow 
and steep and shaped like a whale. On the summit of 
this hill is the town. Seen from afar it is a compact, 
clean-cut little place, so raised above the plain as to 
overlook it from end to end. It seems at first to be 
merely a pack of white walls on the top of a green bank. 
The walls have dots for windows, and for roofs a litter 
— ^it would seem — of brown autumn leaves dropped by 
the wind. 

The town is surrounded by a prim >vall, within 
which the houses are herded like white sheep in a 
pen. This wall has battlements on its crest, and at its 
foot a gate which appears as a black gap from which 
a grey path trails down the slope. On the highest point 
of the hill is a massive castle of great age, crowned by 
a high-pitched roof and flanked by a round tower. Near 
by the chateau can be seen the spire of a church. 
Gruyeres, even when viewed from a distance, is more 
like a town in a story-book than a place to be found in 
a telephone directory. 

It becomes almost a question how a town so distinctive 
should be most fitly approached. To walk up the hill, 
staff in hand, would clearly be appropriate. It would 
be proper also to ride up, provided that the lady — if 
there be a lady — rode pillion. As to vehicles, a cabriolet 
or a one-horse chaise would appear to be in keeping, but 
to visit Gruyeres in a motor car would be an outrage. 

216 



Gruyeres 

One might as well burst into the Garden of Eden on 
an aeroplane. 

As the proposed one-horse chaise crawls up to the 
town there is nothing to be seen that is noteworthy, 
nothing but the white road and a hill-side covered 
with grass. On reaching the summit the chaise will 
stop, the traveller will alight, and will find himself 
suddenly in the midst of Gruyeres. The town is 
revealed so abruptly that the hill road might have 
opened upon the stage of a theatre with a set scene 
showing a street in an unusual town. In front of the 
traveller is an open space with houses crowding on 
either side of it. It is a space of modest size and yet 
it reaches from one end of the town to the other, for 
Gruyeres is very small, so small that the whole of it 
is seen at a glance. The place is paved with cobble- 
stones, between which much grass is growing. It is 
called simply '' The Street," for there is no other street 
in the town. Yet it is not exactly a street. It has 
no pavement and no apparent outlet. Moreover, it is 
not level as most streets are. In fact, it slopes down 
at once to a dip where are a fountain and women wash- 
ing clothes. It then mounts up, as if from a river-bed, 
and comes to an end before a figure of Christ on the 
Cross. The figure is life-size, is brilliantly painted, and 
is sheltered by a penthouse which throws a solemn 
shadow across the face. Beyond the Cross, on one 
side, is a little company of houses which appear to be 
elbowing one another and peeping over one another's 
shoulders in their effort to look down The Street ; while, 
on the other side, is a path which leads to the castle. 
Beyond the castle and the inquisitive houses are the sky 

217 



The Lake of Geneva 

and a distant mountain capped with snow. Thus it is 
that The Street represents the beginning and the end 
of Gruyeres. In fact, it is Gruyeres. 

The view of the castle from the entry to Gruyeres 
is enchanting. There is Httle more than the round 
tower to be seen, but it is so burly, so like a great giant 
and yet so very old and kindly-looking that the little 
town lies at its feet vdth the contentment of a dog. 
Owing to the oddness of the houses that form The Street 
and to the general unreality of the place it would be no 
surprise if one suddenly heard (as did Counsellor Knapp 
in his own queer city) the sound of drums and fifes and 
saw coming down the lane from the castle a troop of 
drummers beating their drums, followed by a body of 
men-at-arms with crossbows and spears, and then, on a 
large horse, a prince in armour with a plume in his 
helmet, attended by pages upon w^hose slashed doublets 
was embroidered in silver the wide-winged crane or 
Grue — the emblem of Gruyeres. 

Those who wear the Goloshes of Fortune would see 
that procession without doubt and stranger things 
besides; but to those who are normally shod there is 
still '^ La Rue," which is assuredly strange enough. It 
is a quiet street because, but for the women washing 
at the spring and two boys who are trickling marbles 
between the cobble-stones, there are few signs of life. A 
red-faced girl is chasing some fowls out of a mediaeval 
cellar; but the excitement is only momentary. An old 
woman is seated on a bench in the sun busy with her 
knitting, while on another bench two aged men are 
reading from the same newspaper, the date of which 

journal one would suppose to be about 1621. 

218 



Gruyeres 

The houses are not only old but curious. Many have 
fine ogee windows as well as handsome stone doorways. 
Over the round arches of these entries will be such dates 
as 1543, 1591 or 1594, together with a piece of carving 
which as often as not takes the form of the strutting 
Grue. There is an ancient house with a mediaeval shop. 
The shop is just a rounded arch closed by the original 
three-fold shutter and provided with a stone slab for the 
counter. The house has windows which would not 
demean an old-world manor house. There is an inn, 
too, called the " Fleur de Lys." It is a comfortable 
inn but rather modern, being, indeed, almost an upstart 
in the place, since it is not yet three hundred years old, 
as the date (1653) over the door attests. Gargoyles 
seem to have been, at one time, fashionable in Gruyeres, 
as was also the custom of decorating a house with 
fantastic carving, the work apparently of light-hearted 
men who worked for the fun of the thing and were fond 
of making jokes in stone. 

The most delightful house in Gruyeres is known as 
'' La Chalamala." It stands in La Rue, there being no 
other place for it. It is small, possessing two stories 
and a garret. The door is approached by a flight of 
white steps which are picturesquely askew. It is just 
such a door as would be found in a 14th century con- 
vent. The windows, however, are the glory of the 
house. The stone framework of each is wondrously and 
profusely carved with great cunning and invention. 
There is an overhanging roof with a water-pipe which 
ends in a dragon's head. The head is very fierce, is 
rather violent in colour, has teeth like a saw and a 

gaping mouth that is alarmingly red. From the Ups of 

219 



The Lake of Geneva 

the reptile the water pours down upon the cobblestones 
when rain falls in Gruyeres. 

The name of the house is of interest. Gerard 
Chalamala was a jester at the Court of the Count of 
Gruyere. All that is known about him is contained in 
his last will and testament, which he signed on the 
25th day of May in the year 1349. The document is 
preserved among the archives of the town. M. Diricq, 
in his charming little history of Gruyeres^ reproduces 
it word for word, merely changing the Latin of the 
text into modern French. A will gives little scope for 
the display of humour, so it is impossible, from this 
ancient writing, to form any idea of Chalamala's gifts 
as a comedian. From the document, however, many 
things are to be learned. In the first place it is clear 
that the jester was rich and, in the second place, that 
he was deeply religious. He left legacies to various 
pious institutions, including one cow to La Chartreuse 
of Oron and another cow to the Abbey of Marsens. It 
is to be gathered from this testament that Chalamala 
was of a serious and melancholic disposition, as are so 
many professional humorists. Furthermore, it appears 
that he belonged to a family of jesters, for his brother 
Michel is described as a mime, while his daughter 
Jordane was married to a **fool." 

When this family party of funny men gathered 
together at Christmas the meeting must have been 
depressing and restrained, since they must have shunned 
the talking of ''shop," have avoided clowning and 
thrown aside all apeing of the professional manner. 

1 " Gruyeres en Gruyere/' par Edouard Diricq. Lausanne, 1921. With a 
beautiful water-colour of La Rue by Colonel Goff. 

220 



Gruy^res 

One can imagine Jordane, the daughter, imploring her 
husband Girard not to try to be funny at the dinner 
table and to keep his hands off the sausages and such- 
Uke tempting missiles. The testator mentions his house, 
but it is impossible to identify it with the dainty, 
fantastic little building which now goes by his name. 
The only comic feature about the dwelling is the dragon- 
headed water-pipe which pours down water on the head 
of the passer-by. 

Opposite this house and by the side of The Street is 
a most extraordinary object. It consists of a huge 
block, bench or table of solid stone. In this stone, 
chiselled out of the very rock, are five deep round basins. 
They differ in size and capacity. At the bottom of 
each is a round vent which opens upon the side of the 
wall above which the block is placed. These cavities 
suggest rock-hewn wash-hand basins of great depth, but 
it is hard to understand why one is so large and one so 
small, unless the latter be intended for a child. A 
wearer of Counsellor Knapp's goloshes might consider 
that they belonged to some colossal game of bagatelle 
played by giants or to some still more unearthly game 
of chande. They are, however, nothing of the kind. 
They are the ancient Mesures in which the peasants 
measured iheir corn on market days. When the rock 
basin was filled the buyer drew off the grain in a sack 
through the vent on the face of the wall. Even to-day 
this method of transacting business would appear to 
have some practical merit. 

Photographs give no effective idea of the beauty of 
Gruyeres. They should, indeed, be avoided, as convey- 
ing an inadequate impression of the place, since one 

221 



The Lake of Geneva 

great charm of La Rue is its wonderful colouring. The 
houses are mostly white or a hazy blue. The overhang- 
ing roofs, which cast such quaint shadows on the walls, 
are a ruddy brown. The roadway blends the lilac-grey 
of the cobble-stones with the green of grass, and will be 
lit by a spark of brighter colour as a woman with a 
red cape crosses in the sun. On almost every window-sill 
is a box of scarlet geraniums, while creepers and climb- 
ing roses find a place on many a stretch of ancient 
masonry. Sun-shutters are en regie in Gruyeres, and 
are lavish in their colouring. At a point or two in the 
street are dark green fir trees or an aromatic pile of 
winter wood, the logs of which are russet or biscuit- 
yellow or silver-grey. In front of almost every house 
is a bright green bench behind a row of shrubs in pots 
or a bank of flowers. This bench so enclosed forms the 
open-air sitting-room of the home, for here the gossips 
gather while the children play, and here the man from 
the fields smokes his caporal after his work is done. All 
that is needed to complete the magic of the place is the 
sound of a spinning-wheel. 

The castle dates from the 11th century, but has been 
more than once rebuilt. In its general features it must 
look to-day very much as it has looked for the last four 
hundred years. The church is of little interest. It has 
been restored on the lines of a church in a new industrial 
suburb. It is all that Gruyeres is not. 

The town wall has much attraction, especially for 
boys playing at soldiers. It has an ineffectual tower 
here and there and boasts of battlements, each gap in 
which gives a little framed picture of the glorious green 
country around. The patrol path on its summit is pro- 

222 



Gruydres 

tected by a running roof which shielded the city guard 
from the sun in summer and from the snow in winter. 
This much-trodden path is so httle changed that, when 
the shadow of the evening falls, it is easy to picture the 
last of the old night watchmen disappearing round the 
corner with his heavy cloak, his lantern and his pike. 

The gates of the town have, like all old gates in 
walled places, a fine air of romance about them. The 
chief gate is the Porte du Belluard. It was the state 
entry into Gruyeres. It has a pointed arch, over which 
is a small mysterious gallery with one tiny window to 
watch the road and a line of machicolations with which 
to terrify the intruder. Over the entry is a painting in 
brave colours in which great justice is done to the 
strutting Grue, Through this gate must have poured 
many a brilliant and beribboned cavalcade when the 
count went forth to the wars or when he was making 
a visit in state to the Castle of Blonay or the city of 
Aubonne. 

There is another gate which has quite a different 

attraction. It was a sally port or little used postern, 

a way of escape which would be called in the theatre 

world '* an emergency exit." It is a mere hole in the 

town wall, wide enough to allow a cow to pass. It leads 

out directly upon the grass slope of the hill, so that it 

is just one step from the inside of the town to the green 

and quiet country. One can imagine the melancholy 

Chalamala stealing out of this gate alone to sit on the 

hill-side, where — disturbed only by the tinkle of the 

cow-bells — he could invent fresh funniments to be 

retailed while the count sat at supper, or practise fresh 

grimaces before a little piece of looking-glass. 

223 



XXXV 

ON THE ROAD TO LAUSANNE 

A WHITE level road, hot and dazzling in the 
summer, runs from Vevey to Lausanne, a 
distance of 12|^ miles. It has on one side the 
Lake and on the other the vineyards, with here and 
there a garden of roses, a villa or a little town. The 
first place met with on the way is the fascinating village 
of St. Saphorin. It is small, since it can number only 
400 inhabitants, and yet it has been a place of import- 
ance in its day, for the Romans had some kind of station 
here, while in mediaeval times St. Saphorin was of good 
repute and held itself in no small esteem. It has been 
the seat of a noble family, for there is a record of a 
knight with the musical name of Guy de St. Saphorin 
as far back as the year 1137. The '* Court General " 
of St. Saphorin drawn up in 1424 mentions a mayor 
and other officials, while frequent allusion is made to 
the aristocratic Chateau of GleroUes with which St. 
Saphorin was honourably associated. 

The little town, although not entirely fortified, was 
a bourg ferme; that is to say, it had a wall on its more 
exposed front, where it faced the Lake, while on the 
other side it trusted to the cliff against which it stands. 
There were two gates to the tiny place, one on the 

west and one on the east. The old narrow road from 

224 




ST. SAPHORIN: THE ENTRY 




GLEROLLES, SHOWING A BACKGROUND OF VINEYARDS 



On the Road to Lausanne 

Lausanne crept in at the west gate, climbed up to the 
church and then dropped down again to the eastern gate, 
as if it were a passage over the hump of a camel. The 
road — the old road — ^follows perversely the same course 
still. 

St. Saphorin viewed from the Lake is a very pert 
place. Piled up on the side of a cliff it looks like a 
clump of creepers, with great brown leaves, climbing up 
the face of a rock. It should be entered from the 
Vevey side, not by the new road, which is cornmonplace, 
but by the old. This old road is narrow and steep and 
has other peculiarities. It passes by a pointed archway 
through the ancient wall of the town, a wall of which 
a considerable portion still exists. The road, as it mounts 
upwards, creeps under two other archways. By the side 
of the first of these is a house with fine ogee windows, 
while by the side of the other is the stump of a 
pentagonal tower with its original loopholes. St. 
Saphorin, therefore, was guarded well. 

The place, or piazza, or central square of St. 
Saphorin, to which the road leads, is a very curious 
and pretty place. It is about the size of a modest 
drawing-room and is shaded by two fine trees, a Lom- 
bardy poplar and a chestnut, which are almost too large 
for the diminutive plot. On one side is the church, 
and opposite to it is *' The Wave " inn, an old house 
with a beautiful hanging sign showing a three-masted 
ship in full sail. On the third side of the place a flight 
of stone steps leads up to an arcade under a house. The 
arches of the arcade form a kind of gallery which looks 
down into the square as a theatre box may look down 
upon a stage. In the arcade is a swing for the village 
p 225 



The Lake of Geneva 

children, while out of it leads a tempting path which, 
skirting the very roof of the church, winds uphill among 
the vines. The whole setting suggests a scene in a rustic 
opera. 

The village itself is picturesque, with its alleys, its 
dark passages and its curious houses. One house bears 
the date 1612, another has a fine loggia of stone, while 
many have balconies and outside stairs which give the 
place much attraction. 

The church is famous. It dates from the 15th 
century, and occupies the site of an edifice of even 
greater age. It has a grand square tower and presents 
within a fine Gothic roof and a gracious choir. Its 
chief treasure is a stained-glass window given by Bishop 
Sebastien de Montfalcon in 1530, in which the bishop 
is shown on his knees before the Virgin and St. 
Saphorin. A writer in the Dictionnaire Historique con- 
siders this window to be one of the finest in the whole 
of Vaud. Placed in the church for safe keeping are an 
inscribed stone of the Roman period in the form of an 
altar, found in the village, together with a Roman mile- 
stone, of the time of the Emperor Claudius, from the 
high road by GleroUes. 

In a wall in the square at the top of the hill is a 
curious tablet of stone dated 1812. Carved upon it in 
prominent letters is a notice to carters that they must 
not descend the hill without putting a drag or shoe on 
the wheel and, further, must not allow timber to trail 
behind the cart. One would imagine that no carter, 
even if exhilarated by a *'joy ride," would need this 
very obvious advice. As, however, the wagoner in 
1812 was probably unable to read, the warning is 

226 



On the Road to Lausanne 

graphically conveyed to him in the form of a cart- 
wheel carved in stone to which is attached a most 
conspicuous drag. 

A little way beyond St. Saphorin is the old Chateau 
of Glerolles. It is placed on the very edge of the Lake 
and, indeed, stands on a rock which was once an island, 
like that of Chillon; but the making of the railway 
has now united it to the mainland. The origin of the 
chateau is obscure. It comes into the light of history 
in the second half of the 13th century as a possession 
of the bishops of Lausanne. It seems from the earliest 
times to have been dignified by a lofty square tower 
of the type of the tower at Ouchy. The chatelain of 
Glerolles was appointed, until 1536, by the bishops and 
was endowed .with considerable power, which he shared 
with an avoue or legal representative of Lausanne. The 
Dictionnaire Historique gives a list of the chatelains of 
Glerolles from 1312 to 1798. The most important part 
of the chateau — as it now appears — was the work of the 
last bishops of Lausanne, and notably of Aymon de 
Montfalcon, or Montfaucon, who held the see between 
the years 1491 and 1517. Glerolles was then a small 
fortress, and made itself obnoxious by the exacting of 
tolls from those who passed along the highway. On the 
west side of the building are still to be seen five coats 
of arms at different levels belonging to Bishop Aymon 
and to families with which he was allied. On the south 
face of the chateau (between the west block and the 
donjon) are six other coats of arms, also of the Mont- 
falcons. These relate, it is surmised, to Sebastien de 
Montfalcon, the last of the bishops of Lausanne. 
Sebastien. when he fled from the city under the 

227 



The Lake of Geneva 

circumstances detailed in Chapter xxxviii, took refuge 
in GleroUes. 

In 1803 GleroUes was sold, its glory faded, the aspect 
of romance died from its walls and it became a dull and 
uninteresting place, not due to attempts at restoration, 
but to attempts to convert it into a modern dwelling 
house. The Dictionnaire Historique says that the 
donjon of the chateau once contained on the first floor 
a chest of wood strengthened with plates of iron and 
furnished .with a little wicket closed by bars. This went 
by the name of ''the witches' cage." 

GleroUes at the present day is a large rambling, 
disorderly building, half modern and half ancient, and 
so vague that it is neither a chateau, on the one hand, 
nor a dwelling house, on the other. It looks as if 
portions of a mediaeval castle had been fused, in a 
muddled mass, with a farmhouse and a block or two of 
suburban flats. At the entry — on the side of the road 
— ^is a round tower which, no doubt, once commanded 
the drawbridge. Behind it is the lower part of the great 
square donjon or keep. This was, until recent times, a 
most commanding tower, as is evident from old prints,^ 
where it is shown in its full grandeur with a steep, 
pointed roof and a row of sentry windows under the 
eaves. It appears that the new owners of the donjon, 
finding that its vast body cast an objectionable shadow 
on the vines across the road, pulled the old keep down 
to what may be called a proper agricultural level. It 
is now a most sorry object, but has just one memory 
left of its ancient glory in the form of a very dainty 
little window that looks across the Lake. 

1 " Histolre du Canton de Vaud," par P. Maillefer. Lausanne, 1903. p. 183. 

228 



On the Road to Lausanne 

The mass of the building has been modernized, 
although here and there an ancient window is visible, 
together with traces of handsome stonework. In the 
courtyard, which has still some element of dignity, will 
be seen the coats of arms which have been already 
described. The interior of the building was practically 
gutted and *' brought up to date " some twenty or thirty 
years ago. 

High up on the hill-side above GleroUes and very 
conspicuous to those who pass by on the Lake is the 
Tower of Marsens. It dominates the famous vineyards 
of Dezaley. It takes the form of a huge square tower 
surmounted by fragments of its old battlements and 
pierced by certain transomed windows which would 
belong probably to the 17th century. It has older 
windows, some with the original round arch and some 
of the type known as ogee. It dates from about the 
year 1140, and is supposed to have been built, as a 
maison forte, by that Bishop Landri de Durnes who 
erected the first Castle of Ouchy. Its history is unevent- 
ful and is much concerned throughout with the fact 
that it possessed a winepress. It has had very many 
owners, from a Lord of Gruyere, on the one hand, to 
an apothecary of Fribourg, on the other. 



229 



XXXVI 



A CHAPEL IN A GROCER's SHOP 



GUL'LY, midway between Vevey and Lausanne, is 
a little town of 1,100 inhabitants. It can look 
back very far into the past, for there was a time 
when the lounger on the beach of Cully would have 
seen in the bay a lake village, an amphibious camp 
made up of thatched roofs and huts on a submerged 
field of piles. Later on the idler would have seen 
Roman legionaries and Roman merchants halting by 
the road, since Cully seems to have been a posting 
station or wayside caravanserai of some significance. 

Cully, from its earliest days, has been devoted to 
the making of wine. It has probably made wine ever 
since wine-making was known in Europe. It makes 
wine still and makes it well and, indeed, does nothing 
else. Grapes and the winepress are the symbols of its 
being, the subject of its thoughts and the mark of its 
ambition. A bunch of grapes on a branch constitutes 
the ancient arms of Cully. They are grapes, it may be 
noticed, of such size and quality that they would seem 
to proclaim to the world, '' These are the grapes of 
Cully." Someone, inspired by a sense of the fitness of 
things, has surmised that there was once a temple to 
Bacchus at Cully, but unfortunately the suggestion is 
unfounded. There are, however, other memorials which 

230 



A Chapel in a Grocer's Shop 

may prove as significant. One day in the year 1832 a 
man digging in a vineyard by Cully unearthed a little 
bronze statuette of a Bacchante. It would seem to tell 
the story of a Roman wine-grower whose admiration of 
Bacchus was such that he kept this figure in his house. 
When the barbarians were seen to be swarming over 
the hills above Cully one can imagine him taking the 
image from its niche and hiding it among his vines. One 
must further suppose that he was killed or made prisoner, 
since certain it is that he never came back to claim the 
figure he cherished. So for nearly two thousand years 
a votary of Bacchus lay hid in the vineyards of Cully. 

The records of Cully go back to the 10th century. 
It once belonged to the bishops, who did little but 
quarrel about their claims since the town was in the 
ecclesiastical parish of Villette. It seems to have been 
only feebly fortified, but possessed in 1577 both a carcan 
and a virolet. The former was a collar for the neck of 
criminals exposed to public view, and the latter a cage 
in which they were confined for convenient exhibition, 
to the delight, no doubt, of the boys of the place. ^ 

Cully is an interesting spot in many ways. It has, 
in the first place, the most picturesque promenade on 
the Lake, a wide, leisurely promenade dignified by a 
row of fine old Lombardy poplars. On this parade is a 
monument to Major Davel, who was a bourgeois of 
Cully. The gallant Davel raised the standard of rebellion 
in 1723 with the forlorn hope of ridding Vaud of the 
dominion of Berne. He failed, and was executed at 
Vidy, near Lausanne, on April 24th, 1723. 

A still more charming feature of this unpretentious 

1 Carcans of various types are to be seen in the Vevey Museum. 

231 



The Lake of Geneva 

town is displayed by the number of old houses that it 
contains, and especially by their beautiful doorways. 
Close to the church is an old building called the Sordet 
House. It, being very antique, is smothered with 
stucco, according to the Swiss custom. Its main feature 
is a square tower, on one angle of which — almost buried 
in plaster — is a fine Gothic niche. The doorway in the 
base of the tower is of handsomely carved stone, and 
bears the inscription, " 1521. A.S." The letters are 
the initials of Aime Sordet. The door opens upon a 
wide stone stair, the walls of which are ornamented at 
intervals with elaborate and curious pieces of carving, 
representing heads, coats of arms, reptiles and a man 
playing the bagpipes. The arms of the Sordet family, 
it may be noted, were a serpent with a gold crown. On 
the south wall of the house, which looks into a quaint 
courtyard, is an escutcheon, with on it a figure, helmet 
and lambrequin carved in stone. The house is now 
divided into poor tenements. 

In the courtyard is a remarkable mediaeval bench 
fashioned, or rather dug out, from the trunk of a tree, 
for it is in one solid piece. Wood can show its age in 
many ways. It may become black; it may become 
grey; it may be friable, riddled with worm-holes and 
covered with snuff-coloured dust. This bench is, how- 
ever, as hard as a stone, as sunburnt as a summer 
fisherman and free from evidences of decay. Age shows 
itself in the extraordinary degree in which it is wrinkled. 
No shrivelled-up centenarian could show wrinkles so 
intricate nor furrows so deep. 

The Sordets were great people in Cully in the 16th 
century, and by reason of holding the seigneurie of 

232 




CULLY: A DOOR OF 1598 




CULLY: A MEDIEVAL BENCH DUG OUT FROM A TREE TRUNK 



A Chapel in a Grocer's Shop 

Ropraz (near Mezieres, north-east of Lausanne) had the 
status of noblemen. Aime Sordet was one of the repre- 
sentatives, on the side of the Reformers, chosen to take 
part in the famous ReUgious Conference held at Lausanne 
in October, 1536. 

There is another beautifully carved doorway in 
the town, bearing on the lintel the inscription, '' 1520. 
A. lESVs MARIA, s.," the first and last letters being 
the initials of the same Aime Sordet. Among other 
notable stone entries in the town may be mentioned 
one with the date 1525 and the Sacred Heart in stone, 
another with the year 1598 over a round arch very 
curiously ornamented, and a third of much dignity 
marked by the date 1684. One humble doorway — a 
simple square entry of stone — must not be overlooked. 
It is crowned by a little head, the head of a nun with 
a pretty face and a most becoming coif. Her story 
would be interesting to know, for she must have been, 
at one time, the beauty of Cully. 

The interiors of certain of the ancient houses in the 
town have changed but little during the last three or 
four hundred years. There are still to be seen the worn 
stone stair, the great carved beams in the ceiling, the 
16th century windows and the doorway that would seem 
to pertain to a convent cell rather than to a modern 
kitchen. 

There is a fountain in the centre of Cully, the stone 
basin of which bears the date 1643. It is surmounted 
by an ancient column on which is a figure still more 
ancient. This figure is evidently human and probably 
female. It is claimed to be a statue of Justice, but it 
is so corroded and battered that it has become as feature- 

233 



The Lake of Geneva 

less as a nursery doll after years of service in a household 
.where there are boys. 

There was, by the way, a fountain or spring on the 
outskirts of the town that had the reputation of being 
able to drive away evil spirits. But this water supply 
was discouraged by the mediaeval priests, as it appeared 
to encroach upon their special clerical functions and to 
be, indeed, competitive. 

The church is new, having been rebuilt in 1866. The 
fine square tower, with its pointed windows, has remained 
untouched, while in its belfry are two bells which were 
cast in 1516 and 1563 respectively. 

There is a small 16th century chapel in Cully which 
should not be passed by, as it is in many ways peculiar. 
It is not obtrusive and, indeed, is difficult to discover, 
for it is not to be found in any street or any square, 
nor, in fact, in any lane or passage. Access to it is not 
to be sought through the intervention of any cure, pastor 
or sacristan. It is approached in the following manner. 

In the main thoroughfare of Cully is a large and 
prosperous grocer's shop, as modern as plate-glass 
windows and beribboned chocolate boxes can make it. 
The visitor enters the grocer's shop and, after appro- 
priate inquiries, passes behind the counter to a small 
passage filled, almost to the point of bursting, with 
groceries in bulk. In a gap between the boxes and tins 
is a mediaeval doorway in stone delicately carved. This 
is the entry to the chapel. It leads into a very dim 
room, the stagnant air of which is laden with the smell 
peculiar to a grocer's shop — a sickly, almost medicinal, 
smell compounded of coffee and soap, of vinegar and 
cloves, of oranges and sawdust. It is occupied from 

234 



A Chapel in a Grocer's Shop 

floor to ceiling with bags of rice, biscuit tins, boxes of 
starch, boxes of candles, pickle-jars, jam-pots, stove 
polish and brooms. This is the interior of the chapel, 
although no ecclesiastical feature of any kind is as yet 
evident. 

But there is a ladder in view which leads through a 
trap-door in the wooden ceiling. The visitor mounts the 
ladder and, crawling out into a kind of loft still encum- 
bered with groceries, finds himself under a beautiful 
Gothic vault — the vault of the chapel itself. It is a 
groined roof of the 16th century, the ribs of which meet 
at a central key-stone whereon are carved the bunch of 
grapes — the arms of Cully. The spaces between the ribs 
are filled with a painted design of great beauty. The 
work is so like that in the nave of the church at Lutry 
that it can hardly be other than the work of the same 
artist. This little chapel is lit by a Gothic window, and 
although its Ught is not actually hidden under a bushel, 
it is dimmed by a baldachin of grocer's sundries. 



235 



XXXVII 

LUTRY 

BETWEEN Cully and Lutry is the remarkable 
church of Villette. It is so close to the Lake 
as to be a prominent object from the passing 
steamer. It stands alone and apart from the village. 
Villette, now a little settlement of some 300 people, was 
once a place of great importance. The parish of Villette 
covered a very large area and included the town of 
Cully with no fewer than six communes. The church of 
Villette is first mentioned in the year 1134. It has been 
more than once rebuilt, but still retains many of its 
early characters. The choir is a curious, low, vault-like 
structure, with smooth walls as simple as the interior of 
a cave. The steeple, however, is the more remarkable 
feature of the church. It is a sharp-pointed steeple of 
stone mounted upon a square tower. Where the tower 
and the steeple meet are a number of little pointed 
niches of an unusual type, while in the tower itself are 
some large trefoil windows of great beauty. The church 
deserves a little better care than it appears to receive. 

Just before Lutry is reached there will be seen on 
the hill-side a small but curious white tower known as 
the Tower of Bertholo. It is low, smooth-walled and 
semicircular, and is attached to the back of a quite 
bright villa. It looks rather like an old white shell on 

the back of a youthful snail. The tower has its ancient 

236 




LUTRY : THE CHURCH DOOR 



Lutry 

battlements and its mediaeval loopholes. It has not 
suffered from restoration. It, at one time, had a fine 
conical roof, which was pulled down in the middle of the 
19th century from motives of economy. The Tour de 
Bertholo is the remains of a castle built by Berthold 
de Neuchatel, Bishop of Lausanne. He held office 
between the years 1212 and 1220. It was erected with 
the intent of affording an advanced post for the defence 
of Lutry. One family at least of the mayors of Lutry 
occupied this castle during the 14th century. 

Lutry, a town of 2,560 inhabitants, is near to 
Lausanne, with which it is connected by a tramway. 
It is a grey and sober place, with narrow and moody- 
looking streets and a general aspect of unemotional old 
age. Like Cully, it has some memory of Roman days 
and can boast that it was at one time an important 
Burgundian town. Its chief attraction is its church, 
which was originally the church of the Priory of St. 
Martin, which priory was founded early in the 11th 
century. The church, on its present site, was built in 
1228. The bishops of Lausanne regarded Lutry as one 
of their choicest possessions and looked after the town 
and the rich lands around it with a care that was a little 
too paternal. In the 11th century they appointed an 
officier feodal to protect their interests. He had the 
title of mayor, but possessed far wider judiciary and 
administrative powers than is associated with that title 
in England. The office became hereditary, and the 
family, having taken the name of Mayor de Lutry, 
developed into rather arrogant and domineering people. 
One thing, however, they did : they looked after the 

church. 

237 



The Lake of Geneva 

The church was many times rebuilt, notably in 1844, 
after its destruction by fire, and again in 1569. During 
the restoration of the church in 1903 traces of a 12th 
and 13th century building were brought to light. The 
church is an exceptionally beautiful structure. The 
main door, with a round arch, was erected in 1570. It 
presents a tympanum of delicately carved stone sup- 
ported by four pillars. The carving would seem to be 
the work of a man who loved carving for its own sake 
and could not resist the temptation of adding a little 
here and elaborating a little there, until he had produced 
the door of his heart's desire. Above the entry is a fine 
Gothic window. 

The interior of the church is Gothic. Its most 
exquisite feature is the choir, with its three little rose 
windows. The whole of the groined roof of the church 
is painted, and presents as gracious a specimen of church 
mural decoration as will be found anywhere in the 
country. The design suggests an Italian origin. It is 
intricate and harmonious and produces a general effect 
of great charm. The work belongs to the 16th century. 
There is a lady chapel, marked off by a unique stone 
partition in which are three windows. The central one, 
over a square entry, is in a simple Gothic style, but 
the two side windows are of so quaint a type that none 
but an expert could pass judgment upon them. On the 
wall of this partition is an ancient and most attractive 
painting of the Madonna. Some of the old stalls in the 
church show the bear of Berne. 

Lutry was fortified and surrounded by a wall in 1220. 
There were four gates in the enceinte, while the wall 
was protected at intervals by round towers. One of 

238 




LUTRY : THE CASTLE AND TOWN WALL 



Lutry 

these towers still survives on the west side of the town. 
It shows the old sentry windows and the narrow loop- 
holes, but it is in lamentable repair and has been much 
mutilated. On the top of it has been clapped a modem 
roof, which makes it almost ridiculous. 

The castle is to the east of the town. It has a superb 
entry in the form of a wide round arch, over which is 
a gallery with heavy machicolations and on either side 
a turret. The upper part of this magnificent work has 
been destroyed. The gateway dates from the commence- 
ment of the 17th century. The arms above the archway 
are those of Crousaz de Corsy and Cerjat, and recall the 
marriage of Francois Crousaz with Judith de Cerjat in 
March, 1628. It was at this period that the castle was 
acquired by the Crousaz family, as the Dictionnaire 
Historique affiims. The castle, on something like its 
present Hues, is said to have been built in the 16th 
century upon the site of a chateau of an earlier period. 
Over a door in the inner court are the arms of Berne 
and the date 1551. As it appears to-day it is a fine and 
picturesque building, modernized to some extent, but 
still presenting its magnificent roof and its two old 
square towers. One of these is a part of the chateau 
itself, while the other — the smaller of the two — is 
detached and represents a defensive outpost. The 
interior of the building is said to contain some fine 
deeply panelled ceilings (plafonds a caissons). 

By the castle are traces of the city wall, upon the 
summit of which the castle stood. The road by the side 
of this wall (shown in the photograph) follows the course 
of the old moat. 

On the outskirts, on the way to Vevey, there is to 

239 



The Lake of Geneva 

be seen in a wall an odd thing — a stone road-sign. It 
takes the form of a slab of stone on which is carved in 
relief a hand and arm, together with the date 1736 and 
a notification to the effect that the hand points out the 
road to Vevey. The hand has the anatomical simplicity 
of the hand on an Egyptian or Assyrian monument, but 
it serves its purpose; it clearly shows the road and has, 
besides, a friendly and human look about it which is 
lacking in the modern curt and peremptory arrow. 

A little above Lutry is the village of Corsy. It is a 
place of no present interest, but was made famous by 
the memorable Jugement de Dieu in the year 908. 
Boson, the Bishop of Lausanne, laid claim to the forest 
of Jorat. His claim was disputed, and the matter was. 
left to be decided by the Judgment of God. The king 
allowed the bishop to sustain his right by " proof of the 
hot iron." One of the bishop's servants, a man named 
Amulphe, was chosen for the test. A red-hot iron was 
applied to his hand, and it was agreed that if the 
imprint of the iron was still visible on the third day 
following the operation the bishop would lose the forest. 
The hand was bound up in linen and the dressing sealed 
with the signet of the king. On the third day — amid 
tense excitement — the bandage was removed at this very 
village of Corsy, where the king was holding his assizes. 
No trace of the burn was visible, and so the forest became 
the freehold property of the bishop.^ 

This curious but venturesome procedure, which 
involved a combination of Divine agency, some sensa- 
tional surgery and the dry legal process of conveyancing, 
has very reasonably fallen into disuse. 

1 " Dictionnaire Historique de Vaud/' 
240 




LUTRY: THE CASTLE DOOR 




LUTRY: THE STONE HAND 



XXXVIIl 

LAUSANNE 

IAUSANNE, the capital of the Canton of Vaud, is 
the smaller of the two cities of the Lake. It 
"^ stands on a green slope which glides, in leisurely 
fashion, from the wood which crowns its summit to the 
beach at its foot. The town is far up on this slope, being 
about a mile and a quarter above the port of Ouchy. 

Seen from the Lake, it is so discursive a city that no 
one could venture to define its outlines. Its houses are 
scattered in all directions, among trees and lawns, 
gardens and green fields. It is as if a drop of stone- 
coloured paint, falling from a height, had been spattered 
over a green cloth. It seems to be composed entirely 
of suburbs. If Chislehurst were given a cathedral and 
transferred to a lake-side it might pass muster for 
Lausanne, since there is nothing to suggest that this 
city of Vaud is so serious as it is or that it possesses 
67,000 inhabitants. 

Lausanne when seen from a distance and Lausanne 
when viewed from within are two towns which are 
totally unlike. A more deceptive place does not exist. 
From afar Lausanne seems to occupy a hill-side as 
smooth as a cushion. There is nothing to suggest that 
it contains streets, much less railway stations, tramlines 
and shops. When, on the other hand, the place is 

Q 241 



The Lake of Geneva 

entered it is found to be as irregular and tumbled a 
town as could be imagined, a place built in detachments 
without a plan, a labyrinth of streets, of green terraces 
and gardens, of slums and many-arched bridges all joined 
up with a " central square " which is neither square nor 
central. To this very disorder the town owes much of 
its attraction, for the agreeable medley is due to the fact 
that Lausanne is located, not on an even slope, but on 
three abrupt hills separated by deep valleys. Were it 
not that these valleys are crossed by a series of bridges, 
life in Lausanne would consist in climbing up hill and 
in walking down again. Moreover, Alfred de Bougy, 
writing in 1846, says that owing to the hills and the 
villainous paving, Lausanne was, in his day, practically 
inaccessible to carriages.^ 

The hills are round and are disposed in a triangle, 
like the balls of a pawnbroker's sign. They are the 
Cite, the Bourg and St. Laurent. On the Cite, or 
predominant hill, are the castle and the cathedral. This 
mound is, and always has been, the high place of the 
town and the stronghold of its government. The Bourg 
was possessed by the nobles, by the merchants and by 
the great inns. St. Laurent was a suburb occupied by 
a church and certain defence works. The poorer folk 
lived in the gutters between the hills. In one of these 
flowed the Flon and in the other the Louve. Their 
channels met at the Grand Pont ; but, within the actual 
compass of the town, both streams have now disappeared 
from view. 

From ancient prints ^ it can be seen that old Lausanne 

1 " Le Tour du Leman," par A. de Bougy. Paris, 1846. 

2 " Itinera Alpina," par J. J. Scheuchzeri. Ludg. Bat., 1723. Tome ii, p. 496* 

242 




LAUSANNE 



Lausanne 

.was a very romantic looking town. Its three hills were 
crowned with castle and spire, with turrets and high- 
soaring roofs; while around it ran a zigzag wall pierced 
by gates and surmounted by many towers. The dwellings 
that made up the mass of the city were of dark wood 
.with lofty gables. They huddled in the valleys like a 
drift of autumn leaves in a gully. Of the fortifications, 
no trace remains with the exception of one tower, the 
Tour de TAle, which stands near the Place du Chauderon 
on the St. Laurent hill. It is a high round tower of 
the days of the musketeers, which finds itself now very 
inappropriately placed in a modest street of private 
houses. 

Modem Lausanne is, in spite of its uneasy site, an 
imposing city, spick and span and well-to-do. It has 
many fine pubKc buildings, but they are nearly all new, 
for so strong has been the passion for ' ' improvements ' ' 
that old Lausanne has almost passed away, while in its 
place is a city which might have been built within the 
memory of living men. 

On the summit of the Cite hill, and therefore on the 
highest point of the town, stands the chateau. It has 
been admirably restored and is a perfect monument of 
its kind. It stands alone — a square, grey mass of heavy 
masonry, pierced by a few small windows and surmounted 
by a steep, russet-coloured roof. Between the roof and 
a line of machicolations the castle wall is of pale red 
brick, while at each corner of the building is a turret 
also made of brick. The whole castle is a realization of 
solidity, of simplicity and of terrific strength. It was 
erected within the period 1397-1431. The Cite was then 
well fortified and was surrounded by a wall. 

243 



The Lake of Geneva 

One of the most memorable years in the history of 
the chateau was the year 1536. For some three centuries 
before this date Lausanne, together with the whole 
Swiss shore of the Lake, belonged to Savoy. The rule 
of Savoy was indulgent and was committed to the hands 
of the bishops of Lausanne, who lived with the splendour 
and dignity of princes on the Cite hill. The whole 
country was, of course. Catholic. The Reformation, 
which had already begun, spread rapidly to Berne. In 
Berne it assumed a bellicose form, for the Bernese were 
earnest and determined men who regarded as enemies 
those who held opinions that differed from their own. 
They approached Lausanne with an army under General 
Nsegueli on March 31st, 1536. They entered the town 
without difficulty. Indeed, the people, who were them- 
selves mostly reformers, welcomed their coming. 

The first object of the Bernese was to seize the person 
of the bishop. His name was Sebastien de Montfalcon. 
He was sitting in his room in the castle very ill at ease, 
for while he hurried to and fro stuffing things into his 
pockets he was compelled, at every moment, to take a 
look through the windows at the hot, excited men who 
were swarming up the hill. The castle was readily taken, 
and the leading Bernese, dashing up the stair, broke 
into the bishop's chamber with a shout. They found 
it empty. Now, concealed behind a great seat or desk 
was a secret passage which led by means of a stair in 
the thickness of the castle wall to the Chemin Neuf at 
the foot of the hill.^ The bishop had taken advantage 
of this passage and had escaped. He fled, as has been 
already noted, to GleroUes. 

1 " Delices de la Suisse/' par Blanchet. Basle, 1764. 
244 




LAUSANNE : FOUNTAIN AND TOWN HALL 



Lausanne 

The identical chamber he left is still to be seen. It 
is on the first floor of the castle, and is a small, low- 
pitched, comfortable room with two windows and a 
hospitable fireplace. The ceiling is elaborately decorated, 
while carved on the chimney-piece are the arms of Mont- 
falcon and the motto, "Si qua fata sinant,^^ The 
embrasures of the windows serve to show the enormous 
thickness of the walls. The secret door is no longer to 
be seen, although Read,^ writing in 1897, speaks as if 
the passage was in evidence at that date. The attendant 
who shows the room indicates the position of the hiding- 
place, and by thumping on the wall elicits, in response, 
a hollow and emotional sound which is quite convincing. 
The long corridors of the chateau are impressive, as is 
also the main entry, but the site of the drawbridge is 
occupied — for the time being — ^by a small modern 
building. 

On the Cite hill stands also the famous Cathedral of 
Notre-Dame, built between the years 1235 and 1275, 
and so fully restored at the end of the last century (from 
the plans of Viollet-le-Duc) that it appears almost a new 
building. The fine Gothic tower and the exquisite steeple 
form the actual pinnacles of Lausanne. The Apostles' 
Porch, the great rose- window, the carved stalls of the 
15th century and the wall paintings of the same period 
are too well known to need description. No one can 
fail to be impressed by the main entry, with its huge 
flamboyant window, its statues of saintly men, its elabor- 
ate ornamentation and its old brown doors with their 
very ancient lions' heads in bronze. 

The church, being Protestant, is very bare, bare save 

1 Op, ciU 

245 



The Lake of Geneva 

for the scattered seats and the pulpit, and devoid of all 
colour except such as streams through the crimsons and 
blues that fill the tracery of the rose-window. There is 
no altar ; but the place it occupied in the choir is marked 
by two curious impressions in the stone floor. They are 
just such depressions as the knee of a kneeling man 
would make on soft sand. They correspond to either side 
of the altar and are assumed to have been worn by the 
knees of worshippers clad in armour. If that be so, they 
must represent the obeisance of many thousands of men 
in mail through a vast procession of years. 

This cathedral was the scene of the famous Disputa- 
tion held on July 5th, 1536, in which Farel, Calvin and 
Viret took part, with the result that Vaud separated 
from the Romish Church and the episcopal see was 
removed to Fribourg. 

The Bernese, having scared the bishop from his 
castle, dealt in effective fashion with the treasures in the 
church. Aided by the people, they broke up the altar 
with hammers, tore down the sacred images and left 
them, headless and armless, amid the dust of the floor, 
put their feet through precious paintings and stripped 
from the walls the hangings of fine silk. In the nave 
they heaped up a pile of loot of such brilliancy that it 
needed no beam from the stained-glass window to give 
it radiance ; for here were crucifixes and candlesticks of 
sparkling metal, ewers and patens of gold, reliquaries 
flashing with gems, a chalice that shone like the moon, 
statuettes of silver and vases of polished brass. The men 
of Berne kept a firm hold upon Lausanne and estab- 
lished in the castle a bailli or governor, who ruled the 
converted city with a rod of iron. 

246 



'■^i-. 





a. 



5f 



^''-'^W 




Lausanne 

In addition to the chateau on the Cite was an 
episcopal palace. This seems to have been in existence 
as late as 1705. It was subsequently pulled down to 
make room for the chestnut terrace which is one of the 
delights of Lausanne. One tower of this palace remains. 
It still looks down, with an assumption of superiority, 
upon the town it once kept in awe, although it has now 
become, very meekly, a part of a most interesting 
museum. 

The fine mansions on the Cite have all vanished, but 
behind the cathedral, in the Rue Cite Derriere, there 
are yet some old houses of modest pretence — such as 
No. 23 — which are of interest. It was in this street 
that Gibbon lodged when he first came to Lausanne. 

The hill of tlie Bourg was also fortified and surrounded 
by a wall. Between it and the hill of the Cite flowed 
the Flon, the course of which is marked by the present 
Rue Centrale. The Bourg and the Cite were by no 
means always at peace in the early days. They were, 
indeed, for years the most quarrelsome of neighbours 
and flew at one another across the Flon on occasion 
with much beating of drums, much shrieking of women 
from the walls and much shaking of fists. For example, 
in 1240 there were two competitors for the episcopal 
chair of Lausanne. The Bourg sided with Jean de 
Cossonay, the Cite with PhiUippe de Savoie. Although 
the question was one merely of Church government, the 
men of the two hills fought with such intemperance 
that there were no fewer than 800 casualties. Fighting 
was a chronic condition around most fortified towns, and 
Lausanne was no exception. The cause of the fighting 
was often obscure and as often trivial. One reads that 

247 



The Lake of Geneva 

in a certain bloody encounter without the walls in 1476 
an English knight was killed. His skull was found long 
after in a cemetery of Lausanne with a rose noble fixed 
between the teeth. ^ 

The Bourg, as already stated, was occupied by the 
nobles. Its main street, the Rue de Bourg — a steep 
and narrow way — is the main street still. Read gives 
a list of the distinguished families who once lived there 
and also of the great inns, such as the " Golden Lion," 
the "Angel" and the ** Bear," that found a place on 
this hill. At the foot of the street is a modernized 
business house with a corner turret. The corbel which 
supports the turret has carved on it, in archaic fashion, 
the head of a man with a heavy moustache and the 
words, ''a toy mon dieu mon coeur monte." This 
house, before the Reformation, belonged to the Bishop 
of Lausanne. It came, about 1550, into the possession 
of the Deyverdun family. One of the Deyverduns 
was the intimate friend of Gibbon when he lived in 
Lausanne. In front of the house and at the foot of 
the hill country women come with baskets of flowers, 
as has been the custom for centuries past; so the man 
with the moustache is still cheered by the sight of a 
bank of daffodils and violets, of iris and anemones, 
of roses and mimosa, and at the grateful sight his stone 
lips may still mutter the words which are written at the 
base of the turret. 

The citizens of the Rue de Bourg had curious respon- 
sibilities in the matter of the administration of justice, 
for they formed a kind of jury of experts who were liable 
to be called upon in legal emergencies. " They were 

1 A gold coin of the time of Edward IV. of the nominal value of ten shillings. 

248 



Lausanne 

required," says Vulliemin, " at the first summons, even 
if at table, glass in hand, or occupied in measuring cloth, 
to leave everything and, running to range themselves 
around the bailiff or the bishop, to give their advice as 
people versed in the customs of the city. As a recom- 
pense they were free from ' lauds ' and alone had the 
right to place benches before their houses for the disposal 
of their wares." ^ 

On the Bourg, in the Place St. Francois, is the 
church of St. Francis. It dates from the 15th century, 
but it has — like every other old edifice in Lausanne — 
been so restored that it appears to be quite a new build- 
ing. It is composed only of a nave and choir, is a 
church of great dignity, grand in its proportions and 
most simple in its decoration. Leading from the Place 
St. Frangois is Rue du Grand Chene. At No. 6 in this 
street Voltaire lived in 1757, but, it is needless to say, 
the cyclone of *' improvements " has swept the house 
out of existence. 

In the valley between the Cite and the Bourg is the 
curious Place de la Palud. It was in ancient days the 
business centre of the town as well as its market-place. 
It retains its activity still, and on prescribed days is as 
packed with country-folk and their baskets, panniers, carts 
and stalls as its narrow confines will allow. There is a 
fountain in the Place, surmounted by the figure of an 
oddly-shaped woman, clumsily clad, who realized in 1585 
the popular conception of Justice. Here also is the 
Hotel de Ville, with its great motherly roof, its gaily 
painted clock-tower and its superb fagade. It was 
founded in 1454, but the present structure dates from 

1 Quoted by Read, op, cit., vol. T, p. 43. 
249 



The Lake of Geneva 

1674. Having in view the grand new public edijSees of 
Lausanne, it would, no doubt, be rank heresy to suggest 
that this town hall is by far the handsomest building of 
its kind in the city. 

Where the Rue St. Laurent joints the Palud stood 
the de Loys house, notable as the birthplace of M. de 
Loys de Warens, whose fame depends solely upon the 
fact that he was the indistinct husband of the flamboyant 
Madame de Warens. Read gives a picture of the house 
as it was in his time. It was a dwelling of infinite charm, 
with its courtyard, its fine front, its stair, with the date 
1650, and its great roof where, amid the black tiles, were 
two lovers' knots and a red ace of diamonds. The house 
and the garden have, of course, been cleared away, to be 
replaced by premises which, in their unblushing plainness, 
are almost pathetic. 

Leading from the Palud to the terrace by the 
cathedral are the Market Stairs. In a simple way they 
form one of the most picturesque features in the city 
and are designated as one of its historical monuments. 
The stairway is of old grey wood and is very steep. It 
is covered, in all its length, by a roof of red tiles held 
up by wooden pillars. It is very shady, very full of 
echoes, very old and a stair of some mystery, for one 
wonders where it will end. It ends delightfully and 
appropriately by opening on the terrace, beneath one of 
the most curious little houses ever conceived in a story- 
book. The house is of wood, is supported upon wooden 
columns (like a balcony) and is shaded by a chestnut tree. 
In the place of windows it has shutters or jalousies, which 
are prettily arranged. It is rather a gallery than a 
dwelling, rather a summer-house than a sitting-room, 

250 



Lausanne 

and yet it has, in a childish way, an official appearance, 
a faint suggestion of a mayor and corporation. It is 
apparently entered by an ancient door on the stairway 
which does not seem to have been opened for a century. 
In the museum near by is a print, dated 1678, in which 
this little house, or an ancestor of it, is depicted very^ 
much as it is to-day. A man, whom I imagined to be 
unreliable, told me that it was the place from which 
proclamations were read to the people. If this be true 
the people would hardly take the message gravely, for 
the little house is so fantastic, so like a dwelling out of 
Hans Andersen's fairy tales, that it could never be the 
scene of anything really serious. 

To the day-dreamer I would commend this spot 
above all in Lausanne. The place is always quiet, 
always drowsy, always in the twilight of the trees. It 
is cool, for a breeze from the Lake will steal up here 
when it will wander nowhere else. There are many 
benches to choose from, so the dreamer can sit and gaze 
at the little house and people it mth whom he will. 



251 



XXXIX 

GIBBON AT LAUSANNE 

THE best remembered scenes in the life of Edward 
Gibbon have for a background the city of Lausanne. 
No reader of his immortal ' ' Memoirs ' ' can fail to 
be interested in visiting the places that figure in the story 
he has to tell. The Lausanne of Gibbon's time has 
almost passed away, but there are still the Rue de Bourg, 
the chateau, the Place de la Palud and the Market Stairs, 
.while the house in which Gibbon lodged when he first 
came to the city is still standing. 

In the year 1752 Gibbon, then only 15 years of age, 
was loafing aimlessly about the streets of Oxford as a 
gentleman commoner of Magdalen College. He was a 
pitiable object. He was the only surviving child of his 
parents. His mother had died when he was ten. His 
father neglected him, so his bringing up fell casually 
into the hands of his aunt, Catherine Porten, who was 
a very lovable lady. He had a wretched childhood, while 
of the happiness of boyish years he knew nothing. His 
education had been of the scantiest. Above all, he had 
been delicate and had suffered much at the doctor's 
hands. He very early came to the conclusion that he 
was doomed to be " an illiterate cripple." 

At Oxford he did nothing, was taught nothing and 

was left entirely to his own devices. He regarded the 

252 



Gibbon at Lausanne 

time he spent at Magdalen as ''the most idle and 
unprofitable of his whole life." While at Oxford, and 
when 16 years of age, he became a Catholic. This con- 
version was the result, not of personal influence, but of 
the reading of Catholic books. He states that he had 
not even conversed with a priest. His father, when 
dutifully informed of this change of faith, became violent, 
as was his ha!bit in the face of any untoward event, 
threatened to disinherit the boy and bundled him off, at 
a few days' notice, to Lausanne, then the most strictly 
Protestant town in Europe. At Lausanne he was to be 
under the charge of a Calvinist minister named Pavilliard. 
Having regard to the father's ignorance of Lausanne 
and the fact that he — in the main — wished to punish 
the lad, he did better than he knew. 

Young Gibbon left for Lausanne in the care of a 
Swiss gentleman. The two started from London on 
June 19th, 1753, crossed from Dover to Calais and, 
although they travelled "post haste all the way" and 
with the utmost expedition, did not reach Lausanne 
until June 80th. 

M. Pavilliard lived in the Rue Cite Derriere No. 17, 
and here young Gibbon lodged. The street is one of the 
few streets in the old quarter of Lausanne which have 
undergone but little change. It is a quiet street of 
private houses of the humbler type, is situated just 
behind the cathedral and is, indeed, between the 
cathedral and the chateau. The building is practically 
unaltered. It is an unpretentious house with two 
stories and an entry under a round stone arch. The 
windows are framed in stone after the manner of the 
18th century. The right side of the house has been 

253 



The Lake of Geneva 

modified, so far as the ground floor is concerned, and 
is now occupied by a small Poste de Police; but the 
greater part of the building is probably as it was in 
Gibbon's time, so that it only remains to speculate as 
to which of the heavily-shuttered windows was that of 
the room he occupied. 

Gibbon was fortunate in his host. M. Pavilliard was 
a man of education and of great capacity as a teacher. 
He was kind-hearted, sympathetic, moderate in his 
religious views and, above all, tactful. There grew up 
between the Calvinist minister and the young Catholic 
a very hearty friendship. The pastor's influence soon 
began to take effect, so soon, indeed, that within 
eighteen months of his arrival at Lausanne Gibbon 
returned to the faith of his fathers, and on Christmas 
Day, 1754, received the Communion in a Protestant 
church. 

The lad at first found life in the Rue Cite Derriere 
very disagreeable. He had no friends; he had very 
little pocket money; he was not allowed a personal 
servant; he could play no games. He deplored his 
unfitness for bodily exercise and had to become recon- 
ciled to a sedentary life. He read enormously, and very 
soon acquired a thorough knowledge of French. He 
could not endure Madame Pavilliard. He speaks of her 
"uncleanly avarice" and says that under her roof he 
was almost starved vdth cold and hunger, and recalls, 
with disgust, her *' coarse and homely table." It was 
certainly a great change from the easy, idle life at 
Oxford, where he did as he pleased, had unbounded 
liberty and lived as gentlemen commoners were expected 
to live. Here at Lausanne were the discipline of a 

254 



Gibbon at Lausanne 

Calvinist minister's house, regular hours, possibly rather 
tedious family prayers and the sour face of Madame 
Pavilliard gazing at him across the bare table. 

Things, however, improved in time. The Pavilliards 
moved to another house (long since demolished), a 
pleasant tour through Switzerland was undertaken and 
young Gibbon began to make friends. His one par- 
ticular friend was George Deyverdun, with whom, at a 
later period, he shared a house in Lausanne and with 
whom he remained on terms of affection until 
Deyverdun's death in 1789. 

He met also another friend — a lady — who was 
destined to play an emotional part in his otherwise 
rather drab existence. She was a Mademoiselle Susanna 
Curchod, who became a famous personage in the literary 
and social annals of the Lake of Geneva. Susanna was 
the daughter of the Protestant minister of Grassier, a 
little village on the French border which is described in 
Chapter xlvii. " Her fortune was humble," writes 
Gibbon, " but her family was respectable," and she had 
been exceptionally well educated by her father. She 
came to Lausanne on a visit to some relatives, and here 
Gibbon met her. The momentous meeting was in June, 
1757, when Gibbon was twenty and the pastor's daughter 
eighteen. 

The future historian was not heroic in appearance. 
He is described as a thin, pale little figure with a large 
head covered with red hair and a nose that a heartless 
French writer, in later years, compared to a potato. 
Susanna was pleasant to look upon, had a refined, 
intelHgent face and delicate features. She would be 
described as elegant, or, in the language of the day, 

255 



The Lake of Geneva 

^'genteel." Her primness was a pronounced character- 
istic. One writer, quoted by Gribble/ says, " God, 
before creating her, must have soaked her, inside and 
out, with starch." In spite of her primness she was a 
most amiable woman of whom everyone thought well 
and spoke kindly. Her portraits do not justify the claim 
that she was beautiful and fail to confirm the opinion 
of Gibbon that '* Nature had endowed her with a beauty 
which would soften a tyrant and inflame an anchorite." 

The two young people became engaged. He visited 
her at her home in Grassier, as is recorded in Chapter 
XL VII, and there is no reason to doubt that the engage- 
ment was approved by the lady's parents. This was in 
the autumn of 1757. There were love letters, of course, 
written in the manner of the time. To-day they read 
rather like exercises in prose, perfect in style, but lack- 
ing the warmth of life, artificial and extravagant and 
as little like the love-song of a bird as a concert 
performance on a flute. 

Gibbon was recalled to England in April of the 
following year (1758). He announced his engagement 
to his father, who again became violent, refused his con- 
sent and let his son understand that if he persisted in 
his folly he would find himself " destitute and helpless." 
Mr. Gibbon, senior, wishing to be unpleasant, alluded to 
Mademoiselle Curchod as a " foreigner," which was then 
a term of reproach that implied inferiority and suggested 
a proneness to indefinite delinquencies. 

Young Gibbon reached England in May, but it 
was not until August that he wrote to Mademoiselle 
Curchod to break off the engagement. The letter which 

1 " Madame de Stael and her Lovers." London, 1907, 
256 




LAUSANNE : THE HOUSE IN WHICH GIBBON LODGED 



Gibbon at Lausanne 

announced this breach of promise has been quoted so 
often that to many it is the only specimen of Gibbon's 
writings with which they are famihar. As a Uterary 
production it is perfect. As a model of a letter, which 
of all letters in the world must be the most difficult to 
write, it is a finished work. Epistles of this type are 
often rudely exposed to the public gaze, but their literary 
feebleness can only be appreciated by comparing them 
with Gibbon's little masterpiece. 

Mademoiselle Curchod was, of course, hurt; but she 
remained dignified, for her primness saved her from 
being dramatic. In 1760 the minister of Grassier died, 
and his stipend died with him. '' His daughter," writes 
Gibbon, ''retired to Geneva, where, by teaching young 
ladies, she earned a hard subsistence for herself and her 
mother." Susanna appears, a little later, to have become 
companion to a Madame Vermenoux, a wealthy widow 
who lived in Geneva but frequently visited Paris. 
Necker, the rising banker, had long wooed Madame 
Vermenoux and had, indeed, proposed to her; but she 
had declined his offer, hoping to meet with a more 
aristocratic suitor. On her return to Paris with her 
young companion she found that Necker had not only 
continued to rise, but had attained a position of promi- 
nence and was likely to become the counsellor of kings. 
The widow at once determined that her persistent lover 
had now risen so far as to approach her conception of 
an aristocratic suitor, and resolved to accept his proposal 
when next it was tendered. It was, however, never 
offered, for when Necker saw the widow's charming 
companion he at once fell in love with her, promptly 
proposed and was primly accepted. The marriage took 

R 257 



The Lake of Geneva 

place in 1764, and the event is said to have caused the 
widow " acute suffering. " So the minister's daughter 
from the humble village of Grassier became Madame 
Necker, destined to be famous as the chatelaine of 
Coppet and the mother of the illustrious Madame de 
Stael. 

Gibbon returned to Lausanne in May, 1763, and 
remained there eleven months. He felt that he could 
not again face Madame Pavilliard and her parsimonious 
fare, so he became a boarder in the " elegant house " of 
a M. De Mesery. Here he lived in great comfort, and 
records with satisfaction that the food was plentiful and 
the boarders " select." The position in Lausanne of 
the " elegant house " has, unfortunately, never been 
traced. 

It was during this period of his stay in Lausanne 
that Gibbon tells of his favourite society. La Societe du 
Printemps. He says it was ''a singular institution." 
Considering that it flourished in a puritan city imbued 
mth the rigorous teachings of Calvin it certainly was 
peculiar. 

" It consisted of fifteen or twenty young unmarried ladies, 
of genteel, though not of the very first families ; the eldest 
perhaps about twenty, all agreeable, several handsome, and 
two or three of exquisite beauty. At each other's houses they 
assembled almost every day, without the control, or even the 
presence, of a mother or an aunt ; they were trusted to their 
own prudence, among a crowd of young men of every nation 
in Europe. They laughed, they sung, they danced, they played 
at cards, they acted comedies ; but in the midst of this careless 
gaiety, they respected themselves and were respected by the 



men." ^ 



1 ** Memoirs of My Life," by Edward Gibbon, p. 156. 
258 



Gibbon at Lausanne 

About 1758 Gibbon met Voltaire who had at that 
time a house in Lausanne. Gibbon was then twenty- 
one and the French philosopher sixty-four. The two 
did not take at all kindly to one another. To Voltaire 
the future historian was merely " a fat-faced youth 
called Gibbon," while to Gibbon the Frenchman was 
a not too pleasant and much over-rated playwright. 
Although Gibbon paid more than one visit to Ferney 
(the last in 1763), the two writers never became more 
than formal acquaintances. 

In 1765 Gibbon was in Paris, on which occasion he 
called upon Madame Necker, who received him very 
graciously. The meeting was, no doubt, a little trying, 
but they were both astute enough to make it as free 
from embarrassment as was possible. The two, who had 
once been lovers, became devoted friends and corre- 
sponded with one another, in the warmest but most dis- 
creet terms, for the remainder of their hves. Madame 
Necker was attracted to Gibbon by his great intellectual 
abilities, while he never ceased his admiration of her fine 
qualities as a woman. It was a platonic attachment, if 
ever there was one, and if some element of romance 
occasionally crept in it gave to the friendship a certain 
picturesqueness. Gibbon visited the Neckers not only 
in Paris but also at Coppet. Mention is made of one such 
visit to Coppet in 1790. At that time Madame de Stael, 
who was at the chateau, was twenty-four, but as Gibbon 
fails to allude to the whirlwind lady she probably merely 
frightened him. Madame Necker 's last letter to Gibbon 
is dated June 15th, 1792. He died in January, 1794, 
and she in the May that followed. 

Between 1758 and 1783 Gibbon was in England, 

259 



The Lake of Geneva 

except during a tour in Italy in 1764-5 and a visit to 
Paris in 1777. In England he did strange and improb- 
able things. He joined the army in the diluted form of 
the militia, became a major and indeed a lieutenant- 
colonel, and rode about on a horse. Further than that he 
became a member of Parliament, in which oflBce he filled 
" the humble station of a mute." He went even more 
widely astray, for he was appointed a Lord Commissioner 
of Trade and Plantations, he having no knowledge of 
either trade or trees. In this dignified position he 
''enjoyed," as he says, ''many days and weeks of 
repose." 

His father having died in 1770, he was now possessed 
of ample means, and in September, 1783, he returned to 
his beloved Lausanne. He took up his abode with his 
friend George Deyverdun, who owned a house in Lau- 
sanne called " La Grotte." Gibbon undertook the expense 
of the house, and here he hoped to end his days. La Grotte 
was very beautifully situated. It stood on the brink of the 
hill in front of the church of St. Francois, was open to 
the south and commanded a superb view of the Lake and 
of the mountains of Savoy. It was surrounded by a 
garden of four acres in which was a summer-house. Here 
Gibbon wrote, and here, in 1787, he completed his great 
work, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." 
Read has given an interesting history of La Grotte, 
from which it appears that it was originally a part of the 
Convent of St. Frangois and was, as such, occupied by 
vaults where muniments and treasures were stored. A 
photograph shows a house of no great interest and evi- 
dently of no great age. It had a very lofty and steep 
roof. On the road front there was but one story, while 

260 



Gibbon at Lausanne 

on the southern side — owing to the slope of the ground 
— there were three. In general terms it would be 
described as an unpretentious suburban villa. 

La Grotte has long since been pulled down, and on 
its site and on a part of its garden has been erected the 
Post Office, the most prominent building in Lausanne. 
An hotel, called the Hotel Gibbon, came to occupy the 
western end of the grounds, so that the garden of the 
hotel represented all that was left of the garden that 
Gibbon loved. 

So long as La Grotte stood it was visited every year 
by a horde of sightseers and admirers or pseudo-admirers 
of Gibbon. Between the years 1802 and 1831 the house 
was occupied by an old lady named Madame Grenier. 
She has left it on record that for nearly a generation the 
pilgrimage of visitors was continuous. They came to see 
the historic summer-house and to take away a piece of 
it as a memento. " As every English visitor cut away 
a portion, the summer-house gradually disappeared from 
Lausanne and was distributed in fragments through 
Great Britain. Bit by bit the owners renewed it, but 
eventually not a morsel of the original was left."^ A 
totally new summer-house was built, but that also was 
hacked away by the penknives of enthusiastic tourists. 
It is apparent that a proportion of these relic-hunters 
had but a vague knowledge of the hero they worshipped. 
Two items of information confirm this impression. '^ A 
time came," as Mr. Hill states in his appendix, '' when 
the guides began to point out the venerable Madame 
Grenier, if she chanced to be in the garden, as Gibbon's 
widow ' ' ; and further, in Notes and Queries the f ollow- 

1 Appendix No. 51 of G. Birkbeck HJll's edition of the Memoirs. 

261 



The Lake of Geneva 

ing conversation (overheard at the Hotel Gibbon) is 
recorded : 

She : " Whose portrait is that? " 

He : " Gibbon, after whom the hotel is named." 

She : *' But who was Gibbon? " 

He : '* One of the English Royal Family." 

The Hotel Gibbon ,was pulled down in the summer 
of 1921. During the process — which I witnessed — the 
garden was turned into a white desert of plaster, bricks 
and stones, a desert of mounds like a white sand dune, 
dimmed by a cloud of dust. Out of this waste rose 
three little trees, young, eager and rusthng with life. 
They will by this time have vanished ; but while they 
lived they had a pathetic interest, for they were the very 
last green things that grew in Gibbon's garden. 



262 



XL 

OUCHY 

OUCHY is the port of Lausanne, a pleasant and 
pretty suburb and a favourite resort of tourists, 
since for all who travel by steamer Ouchy is 
the Charing Cross of the Lake. It is well wooded, 
has a garden promenade, a little harbour occupied by 
sailing boats and swans and some of the best hotels in 
the canton. 

But a little while ago Ouchy was a mere fishing 
village. It is described in the middle of the 19th century 
as a neglected place whose narrow lanes were often deep 
in mud and whose houses were doddering with decay. 
To the east of the village were the old Holies de la Ville 
in a state of impecunious ruin. Passengers who arrived 
by steamer had to be taken ashore in small, flat-bottomed 
boats, for there was no pier to accommodate a vessel of 
any size. 

It was not until 1858 that Ouchy woke from its 
mediaeval slumber, opened its rheumy eyes, stretched 
its cramped limbs, and cast off its time-worn rags. The 
transformation was remarkable. In 1859 the Hotel 
Beau Rivage was founded, while, about the same time, 
a landing pier worthy of the port of Lausanne rose from 
the Lake. Ouchy had always been a port. It had even 
a service of ships; for as long ago as 1760 a barque 

263 



The Lake of Geneva 

sailed on every Monday for Vevey and on every Tuesday 
for Geneva. So Mondays and Tuesdays were busy days 
on the beach of Ouchy. 

In very early days a castle was built at Ouchy to 
protect the port by Bishop Landri de Durnes, but it 
seems to have been soon destroyed by marauders from 
Savoy. It was replaced by a far more massive building 
by Bishop Roger between the years 1178 and 1212.^ It 
had a great square donjon with a fine building at its foot 
and was surrounded by a moat and by a wall upon which 
two round towers were planted. Here the bishops lived. 
Here they had their own chapel and here they held im- 
portant conferences. They looked after the port and 
especially after the harbour dues and did a good business 
as transport agents. They were never short of fish, for 
it was ordained that every boatman, when he went 
a-fishing, must make — on each occasion — a cast of the 
net for. the bishop. If it rested with the fisherman to 
determine, after the event, which was the bishop's par- 
ticular catch the impost was probably not exacting. 
After the bishops were driven out in 1536 the castle fell 
into decay. Old prints show it in progressive stages of 
decrepitude, but also show that the donjon tower still 
held its great head aloft, through century after century, 
although the castle was put to all kinds of mean ends. 
It became a custom-house and even a depot for salt, 
finally degenerating into a shapeless block of derelict 
buildings. 

The fortifications were destroyed towards the end of 
the 17th century. The castle stood close to the edge of 
the Lake so that the water reached to the wall with 

1 " Dictionnaire Historique de Vaud." 
264 



Ouchy 

which the old stronghold was surrounded. The land that 
now lies in front of the chateau and which embraces 
the piers and the public garden has been reclaimed from 
the Lake in recent years. The site of the chateau is 
now occupied by a modern hotel with which the tower — 
restored out of all recognition — is incorporated. In its 
lower part the ancient walls are still to be seen, but as 
it ascends it changes from the donjon keep of feudal 
times to an up-to-date hotel of the 20th century with 
results which may be imagined. 

Byron and Shelley were detained at Ouchy by heavy 
rain for two days when returning from their visit to 
Meillerie (page 145). This was in June, 1816. They 
stayed at an inn which is referred to as '* a small inn in 
the village of Ouchy." It was here that Byron wrote 
" The Prisoner of Chillon." The inn was called at the 
time " L'Ancre," but it is now the Hotel d'Angleterre. 
From prints of about the year 1816 it would appear that 
the inn has not greatly altered. It has been enlarged and 
has lost the double flight of steps by which the entry was 
approached. By the side of the hotel is a cluster of old 
houses which have changed but little since Byron's time 
and which the poet would no doubt recognize if he visited 
the Ouchy of to-day. 

Between Ouchy and Lausanne is a green hill called 
Montriond. The north slope is wooded and transformed 
into a public garden, but the south side, that turns 
towards the Lake, is still a smooth slope covered with 
grass which probably looks as it looked a thousand years 
ago. On this green mound there assembled in the year 
1036 a great company of barons, bishops and knights 
from France, from Savoy and from the country round. 

265 



The Lake of Geneva 

On the top of the hill stood a venerable prelate, Bishop 
Hugues of Lausanne, to whose earnest utterances the 
company listened with attention. To his appeal they 
yielded so that before the assembly dispersed there was 
proclaimed from the summit of this green hill the Treve 
de Dieu or Truce of God. 

Those who bound themselves to observe the Truce 
were committed to the following conditions. The church, 
the villager, the serf and the inoffensive merchant were 
not to be molested. Fighting and feuds were to cease 
each week from Wednesday night until Monday morning, 
and a like peace was to be observed during Church 
festivals as well as during the days of Advent and Lent. 
M. Maillefer^ points out that these restrictions involved 
240 days of inactivity, leaving only 125 days in the rest 
of the year for the business of fighting, of castle-storming 
and the raiding of towns. It is no matter of surprise — 
as the author remarks — that a time soon came when 
these limitations were " not strictly observed." 

1 " Histoire du Canton de Vaud." Lausanne, 1903, p, 122, 



266 



-D- 

FROM LAUSANNE TO GENEVA 



XLI 

ST. SULPICE AND MORGES 

THE shore of the Lake between Lausanne and 
Geneva is low, being little more than the sloping 
bank by a river's side. It is wooded all the way, 
and here and there, as if to emphasize its charm, a 
Lombardy poplar stands erect, like a note of exclama- 
tion. The rising ground behind the Lake margin, as far 
as Nyon, is devoted to the cultivation of the vine, for 
this is the great wine-growing district of La Cote. 
Apart from the vineyards, it is a simple pastoral country 
which is to be seen at its best behind Nyon, where amid 
" green haunts and deep inquiring lanes " are villages of 
serene delight. 

There are low hills in the immediate background, 
the most conspicuous being La Cote, which starts at St. 
Prex. On the summit of this hill, near Rolle, is the 
Signal de Bougy, from which it is possible to see the 
Lake from end to end, as well as the range of Mont 
Blanc, some 47 miles distant. About half-way up the 
Lake the Jura Mountains come into view, sloping 
obliquely from the north, as if making for Geneva. 
As that city is approached the country becomes more 

269 



The Lake of Geneva 

leisurely, more pleasure-loving, with more villas than 
farms, more gardens than tilled fields, until at last it 
lapses idly into a luxuriant suburb with not a few of 
the river-side features of Mario w or Henley-on-Thames. 

Six kilometres from Ouchy by the Geneva road is 
the hamlet of St. Sulpice. The only objects of interest 
on the way are a stone which records the distances, not 
in kilometres, but in leagues, and, at Vidy, a chapel 
which is now little more than a barn with a bell gable 
and a Gothic door. It once was part of the hospital, La 
Maladiere, to which, in the Middle Ages, lepers and 
victims of the plague were sent. 

St. Sulpice is a trivial hamlet on a high bank, with 
just a cafe, a shop or so and a school. At the foot of 
the bank, by the edge of the Lake, is the famous church. 
It stands on a little green flat in company with a few 
chestnut trees, some poplars, two or three benches and a 
pier. As a specimen of an early church it is the most 
interesting ecclesiastical building on the Lake. It has 
been restored with skill and affords a vivid realization of 
the abbey church of its time. 

The date of the foundation of the Priory of St. 
Sulpice is unknown, but the church itself dates from the 
commencement of the 12th century. It has remained 
practically unchanged in all these years. Unimportant 
alterations were made in the 15th century and in the 
year 1673. A tablet inside the church shows precisely 
what and where these alterations are, the most notable 
being the Gothic window of the central apse. The 
restorations occupied the years 1895-1903. A reference 
to old prints shows how piously these repairs have been 
carried out. 

270 



St. Sulpice and Merges 

The church has a central square tower in a style that 
would in England be called the Norman. On the east 
or Lake side is a rounded apse with a very small 
additional apse on either side of it, each with a single 
slit-like window. The church within has a cove roof, 
uniform from end to end. The walls are painted in the 
style of the period, while in the dome of the central 
apse are old frescoes (restored) of Christ and the Four 
Evangelists. 

The next place of any note beyond St. Sulpice is 
Merges. It lies on a shallow bay with almost level 
shores. Although the present town cannot claim to be 
of extreme age, yet some 7,000 years ago Morges was 
one of the most favoured abodes of man in this region, 
for here was the largest of the prehistoric lake villages. 
Lake dwellings are known to have existed at Thonon, 
Yvoire, Excenevex, Nernier, Hermance, Coppet, RoUe, 
St. Prex and Nyon, but the settlement at Morges seems 
to have been the most important of them all and, 
in its way, the metropolis. There appear to have 
been three villages, the largest of which was opposite 
to the present town. It was 1,312 feet long, from 
130 to 300 feet wide and was surrounded by water 
which is now from 9 to 16 feet in depth. ^ Towards the 
end of the severe drought in the winter of 1920-21 the 
piles upon which the village of Morges were built 
appeared above the surface owing to the low level of the 
Lake. These ancient structures came up into the air and 
the light of day like the astonished dead rising from the 
deep. Had they been endowed with eyes to see there 
would have been much to wonder at, for the Lake 

1 " Dictionnaire Historique de Vaud." 
271 



The Lake of Geneva 

steamers swept by them in the day and at night the 
electric Hghts of Merges flashed on the water that rippled 
round them. In the Geneva Museum, besides many 
relics of the lake-dwellers, is a boat dug out of the trunk 
of a tree that came from the village of Morges. 

Morges is a delightful town, very placid and — as it 
would seem — very well content. Along the Lake front 
is a formal promenade lined with trees. It is bordered 
by walled gardens which belong to the houses of the town. 
The backs of these houses are more picturesque than the 
fronts, which face the street, for the backs of no two 
houses are alike nor are any two on the same level. They 
are alike in this, that they all have chestnut-coloured 
roofs. From the promenade can be obtained, on occa- 
sion, a view of Mont Blanc. The people of Morges 
appear to regard this view as a municipal property and 
one that gives the town a claim to be illustrious. 

The town consists of two fine wide streets — the 
Grande Rue and the Rue du Lac — which run parallel 
with one another and with the margin of the Lake. 
They are very decorous streets, trim and clean, and 
made bright, here and there, by modest fountains 
around which flowers are planted and where pigeons 
delight to strut. 

At one end of the town is a large modern church in 
the Classic style (built 1772-6) with a steeple that shines 
in the sun like polished bronze. At the other end is the 
chateau, used since the closing years of the 18th century 
as an arsenal. It is a vast, square building with a round 
tower at each corner capped by a *' pepper-pot " roof. 
Many of the old windows are retained, while the main 
door is engaging, for it takes the form of a narrow entry 

272 



X-, 




St. Sulplce and Merges 

that opens upon a steep and mysterious stair and is 
protected overhead by a little machicolated gallery. 

The castle was built by Peter of Savoy towards the 
end of the 13th century, and is a splendid specimen of 
its period. It was originally surrounded, on at least two 
sides, by water, while the largest of the four round 
towers (that nearest the town) was the keep or place of 
last refuge. The Counts and Dukes of Savoy have 
resided here on occasion, but then they — like Queen 
Elizabeth — seem to have stayed, some time or another, 
at every building of any note in the country. In 1420 
Amadeus VIII came with his wife and family to the 
Castle of Morges to escape the plague, and in order to 
render themselves more secure the duke had the town 
isolated. Morges has, of course, in common with all 
other fortified towns, been duly besieged, taken or burnt, 
and in these violent events the chateau has always played 
a leading part. 

The castle, being very old, has, according to the 
custom of the Swiss, been smothered all over with 
plaster. In spite of this disfigurement it still retains 
much of its ancient dignity. One affront, however, 
brings it almost to the verge of the ridiculous. High up 
on the frowning feudal tower that formed the keep, 
where bowmen and harquebusiers kept watch, a huge 
clock-face has been plastered on the stone, just such a 
clock-face as would befit the front of a motor garage. 
By the chateau is the harbour. It was constructed in 
1680, and as it was first laid down so is it now. It 
consists of two stone moles with, at the end of each, a 
rather pert little tower. Between the two towers, in 
ancient days, a chain was stretched to protect the haven. 

S 273 



The Lake of Geneva 

The two towers are still in place and are still looking 
very alert, but the chain has gone and with it the 
pirates. 

Morges was once the Portsmouth of the Lake and 
the seat of its navy, for in 1689, when Vaud was menaced 
by the Duke of Savoy, a fleet of men-of-war was built 
at Morges. It consisted of two ''barks," each 70 feet 
long, with 24 rowers, 3 cannon, a battery of harquebuses 
and a hold to accommodate 400 soldiers. The number 
of the men has probably grown to 400 with the growth 
of years, and may possibly have started with the more 
reasonable complement of forty. 

What the mediaeval town looked like may be gathered 
from the Passage de la Voute, which burrows, in quite 
the mediaeval way, under some old houses ; while the 
Rue Neuve — possibly the oldest street in the place — is a 
lane of long ago, for it is dark and clammy and so narrow 
that it would admit nothing with a greater beam than a 
laden pack-horse. The Rue des Fosses serves to indicate 
the line of the ancient walls. There are some old houses 
in Morges which show no little pretence, for there was 
a time when the town was a favourite resort for the 
wealthy people of Lausanne. 

The Hotel de Ville is a fine old building with a 
pentagonal tower in which is a winding stair and with 
a very handsome entry bearing the date 1680. On the 
face of the tower hangs the alarm bell. Projecting from 
an angle of the Town Hall, at the level of the first 
floor, is a very old stone figure of Justice. It takes the 
from of a loose, silly-looking young woman who is very 
immodestly clad and who holds negligently in her hand 
a pair of metal scales which wave in the wind. She is 

274 



St. Sulpice and Morges 

not an imposing figure and would, indeed, appear to be 
better fitted for a reformatory than for a palace of 
justice. 

One of the most interesting things in Morges is 
the old house, No. 54, Grande Rue, known as *' La 
Laiterie." The interior has been admirably restored by 
the owner, a learned antiquary, and the rooms filled with 
his fine collection of old furniture. The house consists 
of two parts, that on the street dating from the 15th 
century and that at the back from a century later. 
Between the two is a courtyard in which are three 
beautiful stone galleries which rise one above the other. 
Each is supported upon pillars and rounded arches, and 
each has a stone balustrade. The structure bears the arms 
of the Blanchenay family and the date 1670. 

The front of the house, looking on the street, has 
been modernized and spoiled beyond recovery, but the 
fagade of the other house, that looks into the court, is 
little altered and its old windows are still charming. 
Three of the original wooden ceilings have been pre- 
served. They are all notable, but one belonging to the 
16th century is magnificent and is worth a journey to 
Morges to see. It is fashioned in the form of sunken 
squares enclosed by immense beams. The design is 
carried out with a boldness and an arrogance very 
expressive of mediaeval ideas. There are many small 
rooms, which are panelled, have friendly-looking cup- 
boards, and curious little paintings over the doors. They, 
with the rest of the house, enable one to realize the 
home of the gentleman of Morges as he and his 
family lived some hundreds of years ago. The furniture 
belongs to many periods and is derived from many 

275 



The Lake of Geneva 

sources. Much of it is accredited to the 16th century 
and a great deal to the days of Louis XIV and Louis 
Quinze. 

In its general aspect Morges is most attractive. It 
is throughout a grey town, so uniformly grey that it 
seems to be coated with dust or to be viewed through a 
mist. Beneath its pallor there is just a hint, here and 
there, of a colour that may have been bright long years 
ago, for in the almost universal grey there may be traces 
of a faint green on a shutter, of an almost vanished pink 
on a house front, or of a primrose that might once have 
been brown. Thus it is that its streets have about them 
the suggestion of a very faded brocade. 

One old book speaks of Morges as "a cultured 
town," but it would now be described rather as 
' ' genteel ' ' and as presenting a respectability so pro- 
nounced and prim as to be almost oppressive. It has the 
aspect of an early Victorian town, a Jane Austen town, 
that would pride itself on being '* select," where the 
proprieties are observed and where deference should still 
be paid to " persons of quality." 

There is one anomaly which is as difficult to appreciate 
as the garage clock on the feudal tower. Morges has a 
casino. How it found its way into the town is beyond 
understanding. It is an admirable casino, but it seems 
as out of place as a loud-voiced buccaneer at a vicarage 
drawing-room tea party. 

Close to Morges is the amazing Chateau of Vufflens. 
It is the largest castle on the Lake, the loftiest, the 
most imposing. It is a building of that type and size 
jvhich is generally spoken of as '* a pile." It is a land- 
mark in the country for miles around, and even when 

276 




THE CASTLE OF MORGES 




VUFFLENS 



St. Sulpice and Morges 

viewed from across the water is impressive by its sheer 
immensity. Seen at a distance, when the sun shines on 
it, it is entirely white, as white as if it were made of 
marble and, curiously enough, it then appears to be new 
and a work of yesterday. 

There was a castle at Vufflens as long ago as the 
12th century, and the first seigneur of whom any record 
exists is the Chevalier Pierre de Vufflens, in the year 
1160. Some vestiges of the early stronghold or of a 
chateau of the 13th or 14th century have been discovered. 
The castle was at first a freehold, but was subsequently 
placed for greater security under the protection of the 
bishops of Lausanne. The lords of Vufflens held it 
until the middle of the 13th century, when it passed by 
marriage to Richard de Duin. About the close of the 
following century it was possessed by the illustrious 
family of Colombier, who held it to the middle of the 
16th century. The present castle was built by a Colom- 
bier in the 15th century, and it is assumed that the 
architect was an Italian. Vufflens was bought by 
Francois de Senarclens in 1641, and was in the holding 
of that great family until recent years. The last of the 
race, Henri de Senarclens, died in 1858. The Senarclens 
arms still surmount the main entry. 

Vufflens stands on a small green hill in a land of 
many vineyards. At its foot the little village cringes like 
a frightened dog. What especially strikes the visitor, 
when wonder at the vast proportions of the place has 
lessened, is its aspect of extreme old age and the remark- 
able fact that it is built wholly of brick, of a small white 
brick. By an ingenious disposal of the brick beautiful 

and delicate ornamentation is introduced in the walls, 

277 



The Lake of Geneva 

and where, in a few places, red brick is blended with the 
white, the effect is exquisite. 

The predominant feature of the castle is a gigantic 
square tower, 190 feet high, capped by a cone-shaped 
roof. Beneath the eaves of the roof is a row of windows, 
black and hollow, which light the gallery where the 
sentries kept their watch. Then below the gallery, as 
the chief ornament of the tower, is a series of machico- 
lations of an unusual and most picturesque type. At 
the foot of the great keep are four smaller towers, also 
square and designed upon like lines. At a little distance 
from the donjon is a low square castle or manoir with 
a round turret at each angle and with modernized 
windows on its lower floors. It is connected with the 
main building by a long gallery and a subterranean 
passage. In this lesser chateau the owner lives, or 
rather lived, for the castle is at present unoccupied and 
is, indeed, for sale. The castle appears to have been 
restored for the last time in 1860. 



278 



XLII 

ST. PREX AND A MAN OF WEIGHT 

A LITTLE way beyond Morges is St. Prex. St. 
Prex is said to have come by its name in rather 
^ a curious manner. St. Prothais, the Bishop of 
Avenches, who flourished in the early part of the 6th 
century, seeing his town in process of being destroyed 
by the Germans, sought peace in a sohtude at the foot 
of the Jura Mountains. On his death his body was 
buried at a place called Biere,^ but the Bishop of 
Lausanne, holding the saint in great veneration, resolved 
that his remains should be deposited in the cathedral of 
that city. The body was therefore dug up and carried 
by the clergy with great ceremony to the shores of the 
Lake. 

The funeral procession was an imposing one, for there 
was a brave display of banners, while the company, as 
they marched along, chanted psalms and hjrmns. In due 
course they arrived at a little Lake town then called 
Basuges. On approaching this spot it was noticed that 
the bearers of the coffin began to stagger under their 
burden. The coffin had, in fact, suddenly become 
heavier. It became, indeed, more and more weighty 
with each step. The procession halted, additional bearers 

1 Some six miles due north of Rolle. 
279 



The Lake of Geneva 

put their shoulders under the bier, the singing ceased; 
but the cofBn became heavier and yet heavier, until at 
last it had to be lowered to the ground. When on the 
ground it was discovered that no body of men could 
hft it. 

It was evident that the dead bishop had an aversion 
to be moved any farther and was determined to stay 
where he was. Thus it came to pass that at Basuges he 
was buried and the place came to be known as St. 
Prex, which, by some ingenuity, is considered to be an 
improved version of St. Prothais. 

The obstinacy of the bishop did not diminish with 
the passage of years, for in 1400 he was again dug up 
and the attempt made to continue the interrupted 
journey to Lausanne. But the bishop was as determined 
as ever not to go to that city, for the coffin was found 
to have actually gained in weight in the intervening 800 
years. So at St. Prex he remained, as he evidently 
wished. 

Basuges, it should be mentioned, was almost 
destroyed by an inundation in 563, and on such part of 
it as remained high and dry the St. Prex of the present 
time was built.^ The little town, standing as it does on 
a point of land, was fortified by Boniface, Bishop of 
Lausanne, in 1234, and became a very sturdy and inde- 
pendent place. It needed a stout tower and strong walls 
to protect it from the pirates of Thonon, to whom the 
periodic raiding of St. Prex appears to have been a 
popular diversion. It would seem that, besides its walls 
and its towers, it possessed — in the days of its glory — a 
court of justice, a cowhouse, a bakehouse and a chapel. 

par Bailly de Lalonde. Tome i, p. 166. Paris, 1842. 
280 




ST. PREX 




ST. PREX: THE TOWN GATE 



St. Prex and a Man of Weight 

It also possessed a mayor, for it is on record that the 
first mayor of St. Prex died in 1200.^ 

St, Prex occupies a well- wooded promontory which 
projects so far into the Lake that at a distance the place 
appears to be afloat. Above the trees can be seen the 
top of the old tower and the spire of the church. It 
is now a very small, subdued and inoffensive village, 
apparently half emptied of its people and given over to 
the lodging of cattle, for the smell of the cowshed per- 
vades St. Prex from end to end. It boasts of a little 
parade, with a few trees and a bench or two. Of the 
old walls but a few traces remain, but the town gate 
and the ancient tower still stand. The tower is near 
the Lake edge, is square, lofty and pierced by fine 
Romanesque windows and by a few loopholes. Of the 
age of the tower nothing definite is known, except that 
it is " very old." It seems now to fill no public function, 
since it has attached itself in a very friendly way to a 
block of modern buildings. So close is the attachment 
that the old and the new seem to be standing arm in 
arm. Most of the houses of the town belong to the 16th 
and 17th centuries. 

The town gate has a pointed arch, over which rises 
a picturesque clock tower with a gaily painted clock. 
The ancient house by the gate is now the Maison de 
Ville, as certain public documents pasted on the wall 
attest. The gate opens into a wide and cheery High 
Street where are the village shops. The rest of the town 
is occupied by bewildered lanes which are as tangled as 
a bundle of string. 

1 Guillaume Fatio, op. cit. The mayor in the middle ages was usually the 
agent or bailiff of the bishop and a minor magistrate. 

281 



The Lake of Geneva 

church is on a sHght hill outside the town. It 
occupies the site of a church of the 12th century, some 
of the foundations of which have been brought to light. 
It is a large plain building with a handsome square tower, 
the round-arched windows of which are obviously very 
old. On the summit of the tower is a pointed spire 
covered with brilliant little tiles. The main door at the 
foot of the tower is in the Classic style and bears the 
date 1663. There are certain old windows in the body 
of the church, notably one of the early English type and 
another with an ogee arch. Both are bricked up. In the 
wall by these windows some pieces of carved stone have 
been inserted. One, representing leaves and an ear of 
corn, has on it the date 1503, while the other piece 
appears to be Roman, for the Romans had a settlement 
of some note on this point of land. The windows which 
light the church are Romanesque, and great age must 
attach to the heavy buttresses which support the walls. 
The choir is decorated by beautiful Romanesque arcades. 
The body of the church has been restored, for a woodcut 
of 1844 shows it as being little more than a barn.^ 

1 " Le Tour du Leman," par A. de Bougy. Paris, 1846. 



282 



XLIII 



ROLLE 



ROLLE is a curiously attractive town, being, as 
one writer sympathetically says, " une honnete 
' petite ville,^^ It is very like Morges but Morges 
in miniature. It bears as close a family likeness to 
Morges as if that town were its parent. Morges has two 
wide, straight streets; RoUe has one. Morges has four 
thousand inhabitants; Rolle has two thousand. Morges 
has an ancient castle at one end of the town, and so 
has Rolle. Morges has a casino, and Rolle, not to be 
outdone, has an island of its own. This island, by the 
way, adds much charm to the place. It is an artificial 
island constructed in 1889. It is now covered with trees 
and is ''adorned," as the guide books say, with an 
obelisk in honour of De la Harpe, who was a native of 
the town. 

The long broad street of Rolle would pass for the 
Grande Rue of an 18th century town, if only its shops 
were a little toned down and a little less lavish in plate 
glass. In a fine house. No. 5, Cesar de la Harpe was 
born. A tablet attached to the building describes him 
as the " Fondateur de la Liberie Vaudoise,^^ and gives 
his l;)irth and death as 1754 and 1838. There is also in 
the Grande Rue a round-arched gateway with a little 
square tower over it furnished with machicolations and 

283 



The Lake of Geneva 

with double ogee windows. It bears the insigne of the 
double cross and was evidently at one time the gate- 
house of some mansion of distinction. 

At the end of the street is the castle, a low, long 
building with a fine square tower at either end and a 
water-tower standing in the Lake, but connected to the 
main building by a gallery. It is a fine specimen of feudal 
architecture and can claim a venerable past, for in 1291 
the Count of Savoy had a castle at Rolle. The oldest 
part of the present building belongs to this period. The 
lords of Mont were from an early date the holders of the 
stronghold. Among them was Amedee de Viry, who 
in 1476 repaired the building and added a great round 
tower on the north-west side which still goes by his 
name. This is the Amedee who erected the little church 
at Coppet. At Mont, which stands about a mile and a 
half above Rolle, there can still be seen on an eminence 
some remains of the old feudal donjon of the barons of 
that place. The castle was much damaged by fire in 
1530 and was finally modernized in the 19th century. 

The body of the castle forms a triangle, consists of 
one floor only, and is now occupied by municipal offices, 
a school, and a museum which appears to be never open 
when a visit is projected. Over the main entry are carved, 
with great display, the arms of Hieronymus Steiger. 
In 1588 Jean Steiger bought the seigneuries of Mont 
and Rolle. He was followed by many members of his 
family, during whose tenancy the castle was restored, was 
much modified and given its present outlines. By the 
side of the entry is a pretty Gothic window which seems 
to have lost its way in this otherwise severe building. In 
the upper windows of the castle are curious iron grilles 

284 



Rolle 

of exceptional and extravagant fierceness. They look 
like the distorted branches of some horrible iron thorn 
bush, and appear to be enraged, but what purpose they 
serve beyond that of mere f rightfulness it is hard to say. 
On the land side of the castle to the north-west is an 
immense round tower standing alone. It has a fine 
pointed roof. If it has a door it is hidden. Save for a 
few loopholes its walls are blank, and as to windows it 
has none. A more dumb, inhospitable and uncivil 
building could not be conceived. This is the Viry Tower 
already alluded to. It is at present used as a prison, and 
no building in the world could appear more like one. 

From the Lake it is that Rolle looks its best, for its 
gardens come down to the water's edge just as they do 
at Coppet. There is no stiff promenade, but only a line 
of garden walls, and behind the gardens a row of unsteady 
old houses. Each garden has its summer-house and its 
little landing stage with usually a boat made fast to it, 
while the backs of the houses, which look towards the 
Lake, are so fantastically irregular and so beautiful with 
their red-brown roofs, their balconies and their climbing 
roses, that Rolle must ever be a place of pleasant memory. 

About the second half of the 18th century Rolle 
was an exceedingly fashionable town which was much 
patronized by the "smart set" of the time. It was a 
spa. It had baths. It had a sulphur spring like that of 
Harrogate and also a stream that gave forth iron. The 
spring was situated at the end of the town on the way 
to Lausanne. All kinds of great people came to Rolle 
for the " cure," and among them no less a person than 
that wizened old cynic, Voltaire. 

Behind Rolle there stretches a glorious green country 

285 



The Lake of Geneva 

which ends at the foot of the tree-capped hill La Cote. 
It is dotted by many villages, each with its little church. 
They look inviting at a distance, but certain of them lose 
much of their charm when viewed from the actual street. 
In Allaman, which stands not far from the Lake, is 
the vast Chateau des Menthon. It has been much 
restored and now follows the general lines of the great 
mansion of the 18th century. Its towers are no doubt 
older and its moat more ancient still. It is said 
that Voltaire wished at one time to purchase this castle, 
but their Excellencies of Berne declined the offer on 
the extraordinary ground that Voltaire was a Roman 
Catholic. There is a little old church in the village with 
a square tower and a pointed spire. In front of it and 
shading it is a fine and venerable tree. It is from just 
such a church that the curfew tolled '*the knell of 
parting day" in Gray's ''Elegy." 

Higher up the slope, on a natural terrace, is the 
ancient and picturesque town of Aubonne. It is made 
a conspicuous object in the landscape by reason of its 
very tall white tower capped with red, which stands up 
above the town like a gaunt lighthouse. Aubonne was a 
Roman town of some consequence, and later a stronghold 
of the Burgundians and of the House of Savoy. In after 
days its history was one of violence and misfortune and 
of the pride that goeth before a fall, for it seems to have 
been fated that every family who held Aubonne must 
needs come in time to some kind of tragic end. The story 
of the town has been ably written by Duquesne,^ but it 
is too long and too involved to be attempted in this place. 
Among the great lords of Aubonne in the days of 

1 " Aubonne k travers les ^ges," par M. le pasteur Duquesne. Merges, 1908. 

286 




ROLLE 



Rolle 

Savoy was that Othon de Grandson who was suspected 
of compassing the death of Amadeus VII at Ripaille, 
as has been recounted in Chapter x. Before this 
mysterious event he had become famous as a soldier and 
had fought with distinction in the EngUsh army. 

Aubonne was taken by the Bernese in 1536, and 
some hundred years later (viz. in 1620) the seigneurie of 
the town was sold to a certain Theodore Turquet de 
Mayerne. This man (born at Mayerne, near Geneva, 
in 1573) was a doctor who practised in Paris. He was 
a learned, ingenious and enlightened physician who was 
far in advance of his times. In his day no medicines 
were considered to be fit for the use of man unless they 
were derived from the animal or vegetable kingdom. 
Mayerne, who was skilled in chemistry, boldly defended 
the use of chemical remedies in disease. He was the 
first to employ calomel as a drug, and introduced the 
famous lotion known as '* Black wash." For these 
heresies he was condemned as a quack by the College of 
Physicians of Paris ; doctors were forbidden to meet him 
in consultation, puns were made on his name (turquet, 
a mongrel) and, although by far the most able physician 
of his time, he was practically banished from the city. 

He was neither a quack nor a mongrel, but a physician 
of exceptional ability and a man who inspired respect 
by his uprightness, his independence and his frank 
honesty. In Paris he happened to have cured an English 
peer who took the discredited doctor with him to England 
and presented him to the king. His supreme merit was 
soon recognized. He was granted the M.D. of Oxford 
in 1606, was made physician to James I in 1611, and was 
later physician-in-ordinary to Charles I and his queen. 

287 



The Lake of Geneva 

He greatly pleased the august lady by inventing some 
exceptional cosmetics for her use. He was knighted in 
1624. He sold the seigneurie of Aubonne in 1650 and 
ended his days in retirement in Chelsea. Here he 
died in 1655 and was buried in the church of St. Martin- 
in-the-Fields. It is through these two notables that 
Aubonne becomes associated, in curious ways, with 
England and with London. 

The chateau, raised aloft upon high walls, crowns the 
summit of the town. It dates from the 13th century, 
but the only relic of the ancient building is the plain 
white donjon tower by which Aubonne is known on the 
Lake. There was another tower like it at one time, but 
it vanished in 1837, partly from the effect of time and 
partly from the far more ruinous effect of ''improve- 
ments." The present castle — ^used for municipal offices 
— ^belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries, has a beautiful 
gateway and a fine courtyard surrounded by an arcade 
of Classic pillars. 

Among the quaint and picturesque ways of Aubonne 
will be found a fine market-house, raised upon columns, 
and an ancient church founded in 1306. The latter poor 
building has been so renovated and improved from time 
to time that it is now much deformed and is a mere 
hunchback and cripple of a church. So much of the old 
material has been preserved that it presents a pathetic 
medley of a dozen periods and a patchwork of all sorts 
of architectural curiosities. The next time it is restored 
it is to be hoped that it will be put out of its misery, and 
that the venerable pillars and oddly carved stones and 
corbels will be given a home in some kindly museum, for 

as a place of worship it is a mere travesty. 

288 



-^^ 




THE TOWER OF AUBONNE 




AUBONNE: ENTRANCE TO THE CHATEAU 



XLIV 

NYON 

NO town viewed from the Lake is more romantic 
looking than old Nyon. It appears as a medley 
of weather-worn houses piled up on a mound, on 
the summit of which is a fine mediaeval castle, grey as a 
ghost. A study of ancient prints serves to show that 
Nyon has changed but little during the last few centuries. 
It has developed, it is true, a philandering promenade 
and some timid suburbs; but it is still the firm-knit, 
truculent old town on the hill that bawled defiance across 
the Lake. 

It is a very ancient place, for it was founded by the 
Romans about 46 B.C. and was a town of some magni- 
ficence in its time, as is attested by the remains that 
have been discovered of noble buildings and an imposing 
temple. Its water was brought by means of an aqueduct 
from Divonne, which is nearly six miles distant, while 
in the bay of Promenthoux was a Roman military en- 
campment and a harbour to serve it. 

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries barbarian hordes 
swept over the town, leaving it blood-spattered, charred 
and dishonoured, so that when the Burgundians came in 
443 Nyon was but a heap of desolate ruins. It is believed 
to have remained in this condition for some 600 years. ^ 

1 " Nyon k travers les Sidcles," par Th. Wellauer. Geneva, 1901. 
T 289 



The Lake of Geneva 

There it stood, century after century, a haunted mound 
shunned by man, a place of awe whose hidden ways 
were a refuge for wild beasts, a tumulus of bleached bones. 
Here, among the undergrowth on the hill-top were the 
broken pillars of a temple, the flagged pavement of a 
forum, the curved stone bench of a garden, the basin of 
a fountain, the walls that marked a street. 

It was not until the end of the 11th century — in 
1096 some records say — that life came again to this long 
silent hill and men began to make their homes among 
the pitiable ruins. The little hesitating town belonged 
at first to the Archbishop of Besangon and was assigned 
in 1130 — for purposes of easier administration — to 
Humbert de Cossonay, lord of Prangins. About 1293 
it passed into the possession of Savoy, grew straightway 
in stature and in strength, and became one of the prin- 
cipal towns in Vaud. In 1416 it could boast of 800 
inhabitants. In January, 1536, it was taken without 
resistance by the Bernese, in whose masterful hands it 
remained until 1798, when Vaud declared its independ- 
ence and when over the tower of Nyon was hoisted La 
cocarde verte. 

The age of the castle of Nyon is uncertain. Although 
first heard of in 1289, it can only claim to have been 
built, on lines like the present, during the occupation of 
Savoy. After the Bernese took Nyon they reconstructed 
the castle in the years 1572-7, and it is this castle that 
crowns the hill to-day. Three of the round towers M. 
Wellauer believes belong to the 13th century and to 
Savoy, but the body of the building dates — as already 
stated — from the close of the 16th century. 

The castle is singularly well preserved. It consists of 

290 



Nyon 

a massive square block of grey stone with, at each corner, 
a round tower capped by a conical roof. There is on one 
side of the chateau a fifth tower, square and of great size, 
which is furnished with machicolations. It contains the 
main stair and the belfry. The central building has a 
high-pitched roof of chestnut-brown tiles which is im- 
pressive by its great size. Unfortunately the windows 
have been modernized and provided with sun-blinds and 
flower-boxes such as would become a well-to-do boarding- 
house. The structure is now occupied by municipal 
offices and by a prison. 

The entry to the castle yard is through a round-arched 
gateway over which are carved coats of arms and the date 
1572. The chief arms are those of Zehender, the baihff 
of the time. The details are almost obliterated, but it 
is still possible to decipher on the stone a figure that 
might pass for the bear of Berne. The shield is sup- 
ported by two utterly ridiculous lions, standing erect 
and as crude as a couple of nursery toys. A drawing of 
the castle in the museum shows that as late as 1744 
there was a ditch on the land side which was crossed 
by a drawbridge and protected by a picturesque guard- 
house. 

The castle was the official residence of the bailli. 
Most notable among these representatives of Berne was 
the genial Victor de Bonstetten, the friend of Madame 
de Stael. A portrait of this charming old gentleman 
(who lived between the years 1745 and 1832) is to be 
found in the Castle Museum. One night during the 
Terror a servant summoned Bonstetten to come to a man 
who was hiding in the garden. The good-natured bailli 
went at once and found a wild-looking man in rags who 

291 



The Lake of Geneva 

exclaimed, " I am Carnot. I die of hunger. Give me 
shelter for the night." Bonstetten covered his tatters 
with his own cloak, took him in, fed him and lodged him 
in his own bed. The next day Carnot was able to proceed 
on his way. He never forgot his kindly host, for when 
he became minister he invited Bonstetten to Paris and 
presented him to Napoleon, who was then First Consul. 
General Lazare Carnot — it will be remembered — was for 
two years president of the Directoire, but in 1797 was 
forced to flee from Paris. He returned to that city in 
1799. 

Nyon in the days of its glory was a walled town with 
three gates. The castle stood at an angle of the enceinte. 
The old wall on the Lake side of the town still exists, 
although it has been much reduced in height. At its foot 
runs the beautiful Promenade des Marronniers, shaded 
by trees and commanding a fine view of the Lake and of 
the range of Mont Blanc. In the course of the wall is 
the base of the large round bastion which figures in the 
old drawings of Nyon. 

The Promenade ends at the only remaining gate of 
the town — the Porte Notre-Dame. It is a gateway with 
a rounded arch built out of stones from the Roman ruins. 
From this point the wall followed the Promenade du 
Jura as far as the Place Bel Air, where stood the Porte 
St. Martin. This gate has long since been demolis^hed, 
but until quite recently there was on the roof of a forge 
near by (now pulled down) the watch-tower of the guard 
of this quarter of the town. From the St. Martin Gate 
the wall ran in a bold sweep round the Place Bel Air, 
jvhere a considerable section of it (some 14 feet high) 

can still be seen on the side opposite to the new post 

292 



Nyon 

office. Where the Place Bel Air meets the Rue St. Jean 
was the third gate, the Porte St. Jean. From this point 
the wall (the base of which still exists) passed direct to 
the castle by the Rue des Mouhns. These walls are 
believed to date from the 14th century. 

At the foot of the castle mound and near to the 
margin of the Lake is a venerable tower called the Tour 
Jules-Cesar. It is reached by a steep, old-fashioned alley 
— the Rue de la Poterne. The tower is square, is 
possessed of four stories and is capped by a cone-shaped 
roof. It is now occupied by poor tenements. The base 
of the tower, built of large blocks of stone, is Roman, 
the upper part (much modified) belongs to the Middle 
Ages. High up on that wall of the tower which faces 
the Lake is the figure of a man in stone, but so weather- 
worn is it that its identity is lost. It may be taken to 
represent the Unknown Warrior of Nyon's fighting days. 
When the fortifications of Nyon were built the tower 
became of comparatively little importance, for in 1398 it 
is on record that it was granted to a meritorious citizen, 
in recognition of his services, on the annual payment of 
a partridge, that bird apparently occupying at the time 
the legal position of the more modern pepper-corn.^ 

Not far from Caesar's Tower is an old statue which 
represents another Unknown Warrior. It is the figure 
of a man in armour with a very gallant plume in his 
helmet and a halberd in his hand. As a work of art it 
is archaic. Below the pedestal on which the figure stands 
is a stone fountain bearing the date 1768, but it is evident 
that the statue is some centuries older. The warrior holds 
in his left hand a shield or scroll bearing the silver fish of 

1 *' Dictionnaire Historique de Vaud." 
29s^ 



The Lake of Geneva 

Nyon and the date 1096 — the year of the reputed resur- 
rection of the town. Testuz^ states that his armour and 
equipment belong to the period of Henri IV (1553-89). 
Nothing is known as to the identity of this cavaher. 
He is, however, much admired by the inhabitants and is 
affectionately known as " Maitre Jacques." 

The streets of Nyon — now a town of 5,000 inhabitants 
— are full of interest and contain many old houses, in the 
walls of some of which are fragments of curious carving. 
It also is made beautiful by many gardens and there is, 
indeed, one street, the Rue des Jardins, which has 
nothing but gardens on either side of it. The chief 
gardens in this street belong to a large and ancient 
mansion which stands by the south side of the chateau 
on the site of old convent buildings. 

The street known as the Rue du Vieux-Marche is 
supposed to traverse the Roman forum, since so many 
Roman remains have been found in its vicinity. In the 
picturesque Rue du Marche certain buildings are raised 
upon arches so as to form a long arcade full of deep 
shadows. One of these buildings is the fine old Town 
Hall bearing the date 1636 and flanked by a square tower 
which would seem to be older still. Let into one of the 
buttresses of the Town Hall is a large slab of Roman 
carved stone. Opposite to the Town Hall is one of the 
many beautiful fountains of Nyon. At the end of the 
arcades is the Tour de la Flechere. It is a square tower, 
much mutilated and much plastered over, but it retains 
its fine stone doorway over the lintel of which, in bold 
carving, are the arms of the families Des Champs- 
Aubonne and the date 1597. This was the mansion of 

1 " Nyon et ses Environs," par Aug. Testuz (I'Europe illustree). No date. 

294 




NYON: RUE DE LA FLECHERE 




NYON: THE WRITING ON THE WALL 



Nyon 

a noble and it stands in what was once the aristocratic 
quarter of the town. 

Behind and below the present post office is the old 
corn mill of the baillis of Berne. It is built on the mill 
course of the Asse, and its wheel still tumbles round and 
round. It bears on the beams which face the street the 
date 1621 and the initials M.l.B. — l.o.D.M. 

The national church of Nyon was built on its present 
lines in 1474. It has been many times restored — to its 
disadvantage. The lower parts of the walls are con- 
structed of stones from the Roman ruins. The spire fell 
down at the end of the 18th century and has not been 
replaced. The nave is Gothic. At the east end are two 
very tine Romanesque windows of a most unusual type. 
On the outer wall at this part are two venerable carved 
stones, one showing the sun and the letters I.H.S., and 
the other the arms of Savoy. 

Near the church, in the Rue du Prieure and in the 
wall of a modest house, is set an inscribed stone. The 
inscription it bears is shown in the photograph facing 
page 294. This remarkable Writing on the Wall may 
be translated as follows : 

''In 1573 a cupa of corn cost 15 florins 
and a setier of wine 13 florins." 

It is impossible to give in modern terms the equivalent 
value of these measures, as both they and the florin were 
subject to local variations very difficult to gauge with any 
accuracy. The stone expresses the high water mark 
attained by the cost of living in 1573. This was the 
result of oppressive taxation, for, by the so-called Con- 
vention of Lausanne of 1564, it was stipulated that the 

295 



The Lake of Geneva 

Bernese should pay to Savoy an indemnity of 30,000 
gold crowns, and it was further resolved that this money 
should be a charge on the Pays de Vaud.^ Moreover, 
the rebuilding of the castle of Nyon was commenced in 
1572, and it may be assumed that the people of Nyon 
were called upon to contribute to this costly undertaking. 
The interest in after years of this Writing on the 
Wall may be judged by imagining the significance of a 
stone let into the wall of a house on Ludgate Hill with 
the inscription : 

''In 1920 a loaf of bread cost l/4j 
and a bottle of whisky 12/6." 

1 " Histoire du Canton de Vaud," par P. Maillefer. Lausanne, 1903, p. 254. 



296 



XLV 

MADAME DE STAEL 

THERE is no place on the Lake more fascinating 
than Coppet — little, old-fashioned Coppet — with 
its grey chateau and its memories of Madame de 
Stael. Places of historic or sentimental interest are apt 
to be marred by the callousness of change and the 
intrusion of unsympathetic detail, but here at the chateau 
nothing has altered. It is as it was a hundred years ago. 
There is no jarring element, nothing to disturb the 
memory of the past and the perfection of the picture it 
conjures up. 

It is possible, without an effort, to reconstruct the 
romance of the faded house and the scenes that it 
witnessed — scenes that belong to a picturesque period in 
the history of France and to a very remarkable company 
of dramatis personse. It is possible to realize the presence 
of its radiant chatelaine, to see the beautiful Madame 
Recamier, Benjamin Constant, " with his red hair, his 
pale blue eyes and his gawky German-student appear- 
ance " ^; Madame de Krtidner, who " talked of nothing 
but heaven and hell"; Count de Sabran, who was so 
small that he was nearly buried in his helmet when he 
played Pyrrhus; Werner, the tragic poet " with his nose 
full of tobacco " and his bad French, and dear old Bon- 
stetten, philosopher and gossip, who never outgrew his 

1 " Madame de Stael," by A. Stevens. London, 1881. 
297 



The Lake of Geneva 

youth and never ceased his admiration of Frederika Brun. 
So whole-heartedly does the chateau with its rambling 
garden belong, even now, to the 18th century that folk 
in the attire of to-day — golf caps and tweed suits — seem 
grossly out of place in its precincts. Among its salons 
and its solemn walks should be ladies in turbans and 
plumes and in dresses with the waist just under the 
arms ; while the men should wear wigs or long hair, full- 
skirted coats, with a soft cravat at the neck and frills 
at the wrist, breeches and bright stockings. 

Very many books have been written on the subject 
of Madame de Stael and her times, but it may be con- 
venient to some — standing, as it were, in the courtyard 
at Coppet — to give a brief resume of her animated career. 
Anne Louise, Baronne de Stael Holstein, was born in 
Paris in 1766, and died in that city in 1817. Her father 
was Jacques Necker, a wealthy Parisian banker and 
Minister of Finance to Louis XVI. ^ A native of Geneva 
and a Protestant, he was a remarkable man with a still 
more remarkable appearance. His bust in the Museum 
at Geneva shows a head so strangely shaped as fully to 
justify his wife's assertion that '' his features resemble 
those of no one else." The strange characteristics of his 
face are a pointed retreating forehead of immoderate' 
height and a pointed chin of equally immoderate length. 
Madame's mother was Susanna Curchod,^ the daughter 
of the Protestant pastor of Grassier, a village on the 
frontier of France and some five or six miles from 



1 Born 1732. Died at Coppet 1804. The blazing jade-green uniform that 
he wore at the meeting of the States General at the commencement of the French 
Revolution is in the Geneva Museum. 

» Born 1739. Married 1764 Died at Coppet 1794. 

298 



Madame de Stael 

Coppet. Having been left with little means at her 
father's death, she had to work for her living, and so 
became a governess. Before she met Necker she was 
beloved by Gibbon, the historian, as has been already 
told (page 255). She was amiable and well educated, 
prim and a little narrow in her views. In the presence 
of her brilliant husband and her daughter she became 
inconspicuous — the shadow of a gentle lady moving in a 
quiet background. A friend once said of her, '' She is 
rigid and frigid but good and has no taste in dress." 
Petted and tenderly cared for, she remained the prim 
little governess to the end. She was devoted to her over- 
powering husband. In a letter she wrote — to be opened 
by him after her death — she says, '' I believe my spirit 
will still watch over you, and that, in the bosom of God, 
I shall still enjoy your tenderness for me." 

Anne Louise, educated by her mother with finicking 
care, developed with a rapidity that frightened that 
demure lady. At the age of twelve she wrote a drama 
which, as a literary work, was probably not equal to 
" The Young Visiters." At fifteen '* she had mastered 
some of the profoundest works of French literature,"^ 
and at the same age she wrote a precis of Montesquieu's 
'^ Spirit of Laws." For a bouncing girl with an intense 
capacity for pleasure this may seem a dour employment, 
but her life was always made up of strong contrasts. 
From this period to the end of her days she wrote 
without ceasing, romances, poems, plays, philosophical 
treatises, criticisms, as well as a cyclopaedic work on 
Germany. Her writings, collected after her death, filled 
eighteen volumes. 

1 Stevens, op. cil. 
299 



The Lake of Geneva 

She being richly endowed, her father was in a position 
to select for her a husband. The husband must needs be 
moderately young, of good family and position, must 
agree not to separate the bride from her parents and, 
above all, be a Protestant. Such a man was not readily 
to be found in Catholic France ; so finally Eric Baron de 
Stael Holstein was chosen as the most fitting. He was 
37 years of age, a Swede, and the Swedish Ambassador 
in Paris. The marriage, which was not a love match 
but a manage de convenance arranged by the father, 
took place in 1786. Three children were the result of 
this union, two boys and a girl.^ After the birth of the 
third child Madame de Stael obtained a separation from 
her husband on the ostensible grounds of his recklessness 
in the matter of money. He died in 1802. When he 
was ill the kind-hearted lady went to see him and hoped 
to bring him to Coppet, but he died on the way at 
Poligny of an apoplectic stroke. 

The attraction exercised by Madame de Stael was 
remarkable. Her salon, whether in Paris or at Coppet, 
in London or at Weimar, was crowded with men and 
women who were anxious to talk to her, to discuss with 
her or merely to see her and take her hand. It was 
the charm of the woman herself that brought the world 
to her feet and not wholly her reputation as a writer. It 
began when she was only twenty. It lasted to the end 
of her life. She gathered together more who were illus- 
trious in literature, science and art than a learned society 
could pretend to embrace or a princely court could 
attempt to honour. There was scarcely a person of 

1 Augustus, born 1790, died at Coppet 1827. Albert, born 1793, killed in a 
duel 1813, and Albertine born 1797, married the Due de Broglie 1816, died 1838, 

300 



Madame de Stael 

eminence in Europe whom she had not met. She had 
chatted with Marie Antoinette at the Trianon. She had 
talked (but much less pleasantly) with Napoleon. She 
had argued with Chateaubriand. She had exchanged 
views with Goethe. It is notable that her attractiveness 
appealed to women as well as to men, and that a large 
number of her intimate friends were of her own sex. 

She was in Paris during the outbreak of the French 
Revolution and witnessed the horrors of 1791 — the down- 
fall of the monarchy, the attack on the Tuileries, the 
massacre of prisoners, the setting up of the guillotine. 
She was entirely fearless and never, in the most trying 
moment, did her gallant heart fail her. In September, 
1792, she had to flee from the terror-stricken city. She 
was alone, for her husband was in Holland, and she was 
expecting in a few months' time the birth of her second 
child. 

She had sheltered, at the risk of her life, several 
people who were fleeing from the Tribunal. M. de 
Narbonne — once Minister of War — was hiding in her 
house when a horrified domestic hurried back to her 
mistress to say that a paper posted on a wall declared 
M. de Narbonne to be one of the proscribed. In a little 
while the ruffians of the Revolution entered the house 
to search for refugees. She met them with dignity, 
rebuked them for their intrusion and finally, ' ' with death 
in her heart," treated them with pleasantries — chaffed 
them, in fact — and, leading them to the door, bowed 
them out smiling and submissive. 

She disliked Napoleon and he disliked her and was, 
moreover, frightened of her. The two were, in certain 
characteristics, a little too much alike ever to be friends. 

301 



The Lake of Geneva 

His vanity annoyed her. She was piqued by the fact 
that he utterly ignored her personal attractions. He 
considered her ugly. She admired his abilities, but 
hated his ideas of liberty and distrusted his ambitions. 
She considered him a usurper, for in politics she was a 
*' constitutional republican." She had " sl difficulty of 
breathing in his presence," but stood up to him with 
unflinching eyes and sturdy courage. '^ When about to 
meet him," she says, " I wrote down a number of tart 
and poignant replies to what he might have to say, had 
he chosen to insult me." He never insulted her, because 
he was afraid to do so. He once said " she carries a 
quiver full of arrows that would hit a man were he seated 
on a rainbow." ^ / 

Her influence in anti-Napoleonic circles became so 
great that in 1803 the jealous autocrat banished her from 
Paris and later from France. She was thus exiled from 
her beloved city for ten years. She travelled a great 
deal, visiting Italy, Berlin, Vienna, Russia and Sweden. 
She was twice in England, once, in 1793, when she 
stayed at the charming village of Mickleham in Surrey, 
and on the second occasion, in 1813, when she made her 
home at 30, Argyll Place, Regent Street, where she 
held a court worthy of a queen. Although she was so 
much at Coppet, she had little liking for a country life. 
It was Paris she adored. When a friend at Coppet was 
pointing out to her the glories of the mountains and the 
Lake her only answer was, '' Show me the Rue du Bac." 

In 1811 Madame de Stael married a young French 
cavalry officer named Rocca.^ She was then forty-five 

1 Stevens, op. cit. 

^ By birth a Swiss, his family being ItaUan refugees in Geneva. 




MADAME DE STAEL 

From the painting by Mme. Vigde Le Brun in the Geneva Museum 

{Frow a copyright photog7^aph supplied hy the Museum) 



Madame de Stael 

years old, while Rocca was twenty-three. The marriage 
was secret and was kept a secret until after her death. 
Although there was a difference of over twenty years in 
their ages, he was apparently as devoted to her as she to 
him. Rocca had been wounded in the war, was lame and 
in very delicate health. He was, however, a lovable if 
somewhat impetuous youth with " a most magnificent 
head." There was one child of the union, a boy. The 
child was left with a doctor in the remote village of 
Longirod, in the mountains, some five miles above 
RoUe. Here he was brought up under a false name and 
described as the son of American parents. This treat- 
ment of her youngest child is one of the least creditable 
features in Madame de Stael's career. Rocca only 
survived his wife some six months. 

Many estimates of Madame de Stael have been given 
to the world. They are, for the most part, based upon 
her attainments as an author. Possibly after the lapse 
of a century critics would be unprepared to bestow 
upon her works the extravagant praise that they received 
during her lifetime. Possibly her '* Corinne " would 
not now be regarded as '* an immortal monument," ^ nor 
would all allow that her ' ' Allemagne " * ' inaugurated a 
new era in literature." Still, she was undoubtedly an 
accomplished writer, although her works are — in the 
opinion of many — superficial, flimsy and unnatural. 
Those who may not agree that *' she was the most 
remarkable woman that Europe has produced ' ' ^ will 
perhaps endorse — if with some reserve — the opinion of 
Macaulay, that " she was certainly the greatest woman 

1 Samt-Beuve. 

2 Galiffe quoted by Stevens, op, cit. 

303 



The Lake of Geneva 

of her time." It was a woman who spoke of her as '* a 
most celestial creature"^; it was a man^ who said that 
*'she was probably the most remarkable person in 
conversation that ever lived." 

As a conversationalist she was brilliant, eloquent, 
quick in repartee, ready in wit, yet conciUatory and 
''fond and caressing to all." Benjamin Constant, who 
knew her better than most and who was, indeed, to her 
''more than friend," declared that her two most pre- 
dominant qualities were affection and pity. She was 
sympathetic to a fault, was never bitter and knew 
nothing of envy, hatred or malice. She deplored her 
natural restlessness. She was never still. Her activity 
was unbounded and almost a disease, so that there is 
little exaggeration in those who said that her life was a 
rush and a whirlwind. 

Vain she assuredly was and no doubt, as Constant 
says, " in too great a hurry to put herself forward." It 
was her passion, at any cost, to be always in the limelight. 
She was eager for affection. She wished people to like 
her, and it was only her inexorable good sense that kept 
these traits within reasonable bounds. It will be no 
matter of surprise that she knew little of "nerves," 
although many of her passages with Benjamin Constant 
were marked by theatrical or hysterical outbursts. It will 
be somewhat unexpected to learn that she was a sound 
woman of business and an excellent manager of a house- 
hold. She had, indeed, a contempt for those who assume 
that the position of a woman of genius is incompatible 
with that of a good housekeeper. 

Being warm-hearted, passionate, sensual and readily 

iMUe. Huber. « Ticknor. 

304 



Madame de Stael 

swayed by sentiment, it was inevitable that her days 
could not pass without the interruption of a love affair 
or so. There were, indeed, a great many of such affairs. 
With this phase of her life Col. Haggard deals in an 
interesting volume wherein he shows Madame de Stael 
in a light which — even allowing for the easy morals of 
the time and for possible misrepresentation — is certainly 
deplorable.^ Sincere as was her attachment to Benjamin 
Constant, fervid and ephemeral as might have been her 
love for Rocca, it remains clear that the deepest devotion 
of her life was for her father. One little episode will 
illustrate this. When in May, 1812 (eight years after her 
father's death), she commenced her flight from Coppet 
to escape the persecution of Napoleon, she thus records 
her last moments in the old house. 

" Many times during this anxiety I invoked the memory 
of my father. I went to his study where his arm-chair, his 
table and his papers were still in their old places ; I kissed each 
cherished trace of him. I took his cloak that, till then, I had 
ordered to be left on his chair, and bore it away with me, that 
I might wrap myself in it at any moment in which death might 
approach me." ^ 

At Coppet Madame de Stael kept practically open 
house, entertaining everyone who had any claim to 
eminence in letters. Coppet became, indeed, a sort of 
court and the intellectual rendezvous of Europe. Its 
chatelaine left her company free all the morning, but in 
the evening they united and then began a conversazione 
which was probably without an equal of its kind. Every 

1" Madame de Stael, her Trials and Triumphs," by Lt.-Col. Andrew 
Haggard. London, 1922. See also, " Madame de Stael and her Lovers," by 
Francis Gribble. London, 1907. 

* Stevens, op. cit, 

^ 305 



The Lake of Geneva 

day a domestic placed on the table by the side o£ her 
mistress's plate a little green branch. This she carried 
with her as a kind of baton when she entered the salon 
and with the flourish of it she punctuated her conversa- 
tion. Those who gathered around her talked of literature 
and the arts, recited poems, read passages from the works 
they had each in hand, criticized every author of pretence, 
acted plays and often did not separate until the early 
hours of the morning. 

The conversation was, no doubt, from a modern point 
of view stilted, artificial and extravagant. The great 
aim of all was to be brilliant and sparkling. It was 
appropriate to speak of a lady as a goddess and to treat 
her as such, to break forth into uncontrolled rapture or 
to exhibit *' transports of delight." It is no matter of 
wonder that these evenings were sometimes tiring, when 
everyone was posturing on a tight-rope and trying to 
outdo one another in feats of wit. There were head- 
aching evenings also, as must have been the case when 
a learned man who denied the personality of Moses 
insisted on giving an analysis — chapter by chapter — of 
the writings ascribed to that patriarch. It is no wonder 
that jovial old Bonstetten should write, " I returned 
yesterday from Coppet. I feel fatigued as by a surfeit 
of intellect. I am half dead," or that Byron, who envied 
the cleverness of a lady with whom he could not compete, 
should say — with some show of temper — " Her society 
is overwhelming — an avalanche that buries one in glitter- 
ing nonsense, all snow and sophistry. She talks folios." 

In appearance Madame de Stael was plain and (unlike 
most plain women) she was fully conscious of the fact. 
She would sacrifice her talents and her fame, she said, 

306 



Madame de Stael 

to be as beautiful as Juliette Recamier, her friend and 
the most lovely woman of her time. Madame de Stael 
was a brunette, with black hair and large dark eyes, 
which all who met her declared to be magnetic and 
magnificent. Of her various portraits the one that is 
probably most true to her is that painted at Coppet by 
Madame le Brun in 1809, when the authoress was forty- 
three.^ It is a little marred by its setting, for Madame 
de Stael is shown perched on a rock in an open, windy 
country, bare-headed and with a lyre in her hand. She is 
assuming the character of Corinne, the heroine of her 
famous romance. The face is that of a woman brimming 
over with health and vivacity, an intelligent rather than 
an intellectual face, a face certainly sensuous and animal, 
but keen, alert, clever and supremely amiable. " To aid 
the expression," Madame le Brun writes, '^ I entreated 
her to recite tragic verses while I painted," but the face 
is so full of good humour and, indeed, of roguishness 
that the effect of the tragic verses would appear to have 
been lost. 

Her last illness was short and her last moments 
happily free from distress, for she died in her sleep. 

^ It is now in the Museum of Geneva. 



307 



XLVI 

COPPET AND ITS CHATEAU 

VERY charming is the small town of Coppet when 
viewed from the Lake. It is a homely, comfort- 
able looking place which has changed so little that 
it is to-day much as it was a hundred years ago. It 
appears as a cluster of old, brown-roofed houses, on a 
slope, surrounded and shut in by a circle of trees. It 
has happily escaped " improvements," and even the tiny 
church has not been restored. There is no formal 
promenade by the Lake, no row of planes clipped to 
pattern and scarcely a modern dwelling to spoil the 
impression of an eighteenth century town. 

The houses stand a little way back from the shore so 
that their gardens may come down to the Lake. Thus 
it is that the whole of the '' front " at Coppet is made 
up of gardens which are a blaze of colour all the summer 
through. The garden walls are centuries old. They rise 
direct from the water, and over them may hang a tress of 
scarlet geranium, a tangle of clematis or, in the autumn, 
a pendent scarf of purple convolvulus. When the Lake 
is smooth — as it so often is — these flowers and the grey 
wall they chng to are reflected in the water as clearly 
as if on glass. Some of the taller plants, the hollyhocks 
and the delphiniums, seem to be looking over the wall 
at their reflections in the water. 

Each garden has a humble water-gate, with steps 

308 




< 

X 
U 

H 



Coppet and its Chateau 

leading to the Lake. Here the housewife dips her 
watering-can, making on the poUshed surface a circle of 
ripples which change the reflections of the flowers into 
prismatic waves of yellow, red and blue. Here, too, the 
small boy sails his boat and here the lovers lean over the 
wall and talk. Close to the water's edge is the tiny 
church, with its beautiful east window of flamboyant 
Gothic and its aspect of great age. On the summit of 
the town and looking down upon the cluster of brown 
roofs is the pale, grey chateau. It seems to mother the 
place like a grey hen watching over a brood of brown- 
speckled chickens. 

The town, which can number only 570 inhabitants, 
consists of one long street, a lane or two and a road of 
some quality which climbs up to the chateau. The houses 
are nondescript and irregular. Each has its own particu- 
lar character, for there is no uniformity of style in Coppet. 
The dwellings form fine arcades, as in some Italian towns, 
along the sides of the street, while in the shadows of 
their heavy arches are curious, shy little shops. There 
are many dim alleys, too, a fountain, and a 16th century 
house with a vaulted entry in which is exposed an ancient 
column. A gallant coat of arms stands over the gateway, 
while a tower and balcony still look down into what was 
once a stately court-yard. The tower served to defend 
the approach from the Lake. The house belonged to the 
fief of Mezieres and the arms are those of Quisard, lord 
of Crans,^ combined with the arms of another family. 
The town had originally two walls which descended in 
fan fashion from the chateau to the Lake. In these 
walls were four gates. 

1 Crans is about midway between Nyon and Coppet, 
309 



The Lake of Geneva 

The church, as already stated, is very small and 
very old. It is built of rough stone and is held up by 
ponderous buttresses, since it seems unsteady. At the 
end that looks on the street is a bell-tower with a steeple 
bright with ruddy tiles, and a Gothic door much out of 
shape and apparently never used. The glory of the little 
building, however, is the east window, which turns 
towards the Lake and which seems almost too ornate 
for so simple a place. The church was built about 1500 
by Amedee de Viry and was originally attached to a 
Dominican convent. 

Inside it is very bare and, indeed, much neglected. 
It presents only a nave with a vaulted roof and two 
empty side-chapels. The main feature of the blank 
interior is an arrogant, black stove of great height, which 
stands in the centre of the church and dwarfs everything 
around it. To make itself more obtrusive it parades a 
prodigious stove-pipe, which is carried boldly across the 
nave from side to side. Against the wall are two rows 
of monks' benches, the seats of which are uncouthly 
carved with heads and shells, fishes and frogs, monkeys 
and wine-bottles. Some bear the arms of the founder, 
Amedee de Viry. Curiously enough, on the upper part 
of certain stalls are cut, in high relief, the rose, the 
thistle and the shamrock. Another anomaly in this 
barn-like place is a veiy handsome white marble vase on 
a black pedestal. It was erected — the inscription states 
— by Madame Necker in memory of her parents. From 
this it appears that her mother was Magdelaine d 'Albert 
and that she was born at Montelimart. 

The chateau is on the summit of the town. It is a 
low building that forms three sides of a square and is 

310 



Goppet and its Chateau 

a beautiful model of the French country house. The 
seigneurie of Coppet has been held by many illustrious 
nobles, among whom was that Othon de Grandson of 
Aubonne who w^as involved in the drama of Ripaille 
(Chapter x). The chateau was sold to Amedee de Viry, 
lord of Rolle, in 1484. It was he who built the church. 
He appears to have died in 1518. The barony of Coppet 
dates from 1484. 

The date and origin of the original castle of Coppet 
are unknown. M. V. von Berchem^ asserts that there 
is no authority for the statement that it was founded by 
Pierre of Savoy in 1257. That a castle did exist at 
Coppet in the 13th century would seem to be undoubted. 
In 1660 it appears as a chateau fort, with a square keep, 
three round towers, a moat and a drawbridge. Having 
become ruinous, it was pulled down (all but one tower) 
in 1665 and was converted into a maison ouverte or 
country mansion. 

It was purchased in 1767 by Gaspard de Smeth, of 
Frankfort, a merchant of Leghorn. He reconstructed it 
in its present form. His arms and those of his wife, 
Ursule Kunkler, still surmount the central court. He 
died in 1771, and is buried in the church of Coppet. 
The chateau was purchased by Necker in 1784, who 
made certain alterations and carried out the existing 
internal decorations. It is now the property of Comte 
d'Haussonville (great grandson of Madame de Stael 
through her daughter, the Duchesse de Broglie), who 
very generously allows visitors to see the house on certain 
days of the week. 

An arched way under the chateau leads to a court- 

1 " Dictionnaire Historique du Canton de Vaud. " 

3" 



The Lake of Geneva 

yard, one side of which is open to the garden. The 
charm of the place is that it is practically unchanged 
since the days of its illustrious chatelaine. The rooms 
are almost as she left them. The furniture is the same, 
so that little is lacking to complete the conception of 
Coppet as it was in the days of its glory. Three rooms 
are shown on the ground floor, the grande salle (now 
the library), where the plays were acted and the recita- 
tions given. Among the old-world furniture is the piano 
upon which Madame de Stael used to play. The next 
room is that lady's bedroom. The bed is upholstered 
in red and white, and has a great canopy above it crowned 
by figures in gilt. Here are her turbans. They are 
mostly yellow or of the pattern known as that of the 
Paisley shawl. Here are her furniture, her writing table, 
her arm-chair and portraits of herself, her mother and 
her last child, Alphonse de Rocca (born 1812), a pretty 
but delicate-looking boy of about five or six with his 
mother's wonderful eyes. 

The next room is the bed chamber of Madame 
Recamier. It is a little room with a simple bed in the 
corner, draped in faint green and with a canopy over 
it fixed to the panel. The walls are covered with a 
hand-painted Chinese paper, and the furniture is very 
dainty, as was befitting to the lady of the room. These 
two chambers must be regarded as museum rooms, for 
they could hardly be the actual apartments in which the 
ladies slept. The three rooms just named all look across 
the Lake. 

A wide stone stair leads to the upper floor. It is a 
haunted stair crowded by the shades of the brilliant folk 
who once paced up and down its now silent steps. One 

312 




GOPPET : THE MAIN STREET 



Coppet and its CMteau 

can imagine Benjamin Constant among them, now 
bolting up radiant with delight and now crawling up 
with hangdog looks and that despondency which he so 
vividly describes in his Journal. 

On the upper floor are two apartments which both 
open upon a balcony facing the Lake. The salon is a 
beautiful room, but much smaller than one would have 
expected. It is upholstered in red and write. Here 
Madame de Stael, waving her green branch, walked to 
and fro among her distinguished friends and amid a babel 
of chatter. All the furniture, including her own especial 
sofa, is the furniture of the time. The other room, the 
petit salon or music room, is small, contains many 
portraits (including one of Baron de Stael, the husband, 
and one of Madame Necker in an attire which justifies 
her reputation for being stiff), a piano and some of the 
properties — swords, pistols and daggers — ^used in the 
plays. The general colour effect is that of red and 
white. 

The garden is a wild garden of great fascination. 
Before the house spreads a meadow, in the centre of 
which is a fish-pond and at the end a wood. On either 
side are trees and meditative walks, with, in one of the 
thickets, a small stream which, after passing under a 
rustic bridge or two, tumbles out of sight. The garden 
has been well called "^ the love-making garden." It is 
so secluded, so full of kindly shade, so tempting a place 
to meet in, so sympathetic, so beautiful as a scene with 
which to associate the fondest of memories. Absent- 
minded paths wander among the trees. The shadows of 
the trunks make bars across them ; the sun dapples them 
.with gold. There are stone benches, too, by the way, 

313 



The Lake of Geneva 

should the lady be tired, as well as hidden places where 
the most tearful parting would be both unseen and 
unheard. 

Some distance from the house and the love-making 
garden is another wood, a dark, sombre wood, very 
unlike that by the chateau, for it is sacred to the dead. 
It lies apart on the other side of the road, with beyond 
it the open country. It is a solemn-looking mass of 
trees, its shade is very dense and it is surrounded on 
all sides by a lofty wall. In the centre of the thicket 
— we are told — is a low building whose entry is closed 
with stone. No one can see it, very few have ever seen 
it, for none are allowed to pass through the gate in the 
guardian wall. 

In this little sepulchre lie the bodies of three — the 
master of Coppet, his wife and their only child. It is 
a strange burying place. Here in the depths of a dank 
thicket, whose gloom the sun can hardly pierce, and 
whose tangled ways are untrodden by the foot of man, 
lie Necker, the Minister of Finance to Louis XVI, 
Susanna Curchod, the beloved of Gibbon, and that 
brilliant, passionate and ever restless woman Madame 
de Stael — now three skeletons in a solitude. 



3H 



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XLVII 

THE HOME OF SUSANNA CURCHOD 

GRASSIER, where Susanna Curchod was born and 
where she spent the early years of her life, is 
5 or 6 miles from Coppet and 3f miles beyond 
Nyon. It is from the latter town that it is the more 
conveniently reached. Grassier lies on the border of 
France ; indeed, the little stream that marks the frontier 
runs through its midst. The greater part of the village 
is on the Swiss side, and it is here that the church 
and the parsonage are placed. It will be remembered 
that Susanna Curchod 's father was the pastor of Grassier 
and that the church was — with the rest of Vaud — 
Protestant. M. Gurchod held the office of pastor between 
the years 1729 and 1760. 

Grassier is small, for its population does not number 
200. It lies in the midst of a green pastoral country 
at the foot of the Jura Mountains. It is as rural a spot 
as could be imagined, where the things that matter are 
butter and cows, the prospects of the hay and the laying 
of hens. It is a pretty village, trim and clean, with 
many comely old houses and delightful gardens. What 
is especially charming about it is the fact that it has 
remained unchanged and unspoiled. It is still the old- 
world village that the parson's daughter knew, and along 
whose single street she must have so often walked, dream- 
ing of her future. The little lady was always very prim, 

315 



The Lake of Geneva 

and it is noteworthy that a persisting feature of the village 
is its old-maidish primness. 

So far as history goes the village is very old, for 
there were lords of Grassier as long ago as the 12th 
century. It has passed through many hands, while it is 
interesting to find that in 1384 Bonne of Bourbon, 
Countess of Savoy, and her son, Amadeus VII, granted 
'Hhe house of Grassier" to their maitre d^hotel, one 
Etienne Guerric. This is the Lady Bonne whose story 
is told in Ghapter x. 

The church is of great age. Indeed, there has been 
a church on the present site since the 13th century. 
The building that now stands has been *' restored " with 
unexampled violence. The old square tower, with its 
spire, has been preserved, while the body of the church 
has been modernized; that is to say, made to look as 
little like a church (and particularly an old church) as 
possible. In 1878 the stalls, the panelling and other 
ancient works in wood were torn out and used for fuel. 
The interior of the building is as bare as the destroyer 
could leave it, so that it falls short even of the dignity 
of the meeting-room at a workman's club. In further 
restorations of an equally hearty character carried out in 
1911 traces of walls and vaults of a very ancient church 
were discovered. 

Opposite the church is a beautiful old house with, in 
front of it, a tiny walled garden encompassing a solitary 
apple tree. It is a long, low house of two stories with a 
brown-red, weather-beaten roof and six windows on the 
upper floor. This is the parsonage, the house in whicl; 
Susanna Gurchod was born in the year 1739. It affords 
a satisfying picture of the village pastor's home. The 

316 



The Home of Susanna Curchod 

garden wall is covered with ivy and the front of the house 
with jasmine, while the window-shutters throughout are 
painted with the canton colours— broad stripes of white 
and green. The house has undergone no notable change 
since the Curchod family left it. 

The wife of the present pastor was so very kind as 
to allow us to see the sitting-room of the house. It is 
on the ground floor, and is a low-pitched room, the 
windows of which look into the tiny garden. But for 
the furniture this room is to-day precisely as it was in 
the time of the future Madame Necker. It brings vividly 
to mind the daring flight that the prim young woman 
took when she spread her wings at Grassier to sail out 
into the fashionable world. What contrast could be 
more extreme than that between this quiet jasmine- 
scented parlour and the Necker salon in Paris, brilliant 
with gilt and satin and the glare of a hundred lights, 
buzzing with courtly talk and made wonderful by the 
costumes of the beauties and the dandies of the day ! 

It is interesting to recall the fact that Edward 
Gibbon, in the course of his love-making, came to 
Grassier to see his beautiful Susanna. As has been 
recorded in Ghapter xxxix, the two met in Lausanne 
in June, 1757. In August of that year Gibbon came to 
Grassier and remained two days. He seems to have 
" looked in when passing " in October, while in Novem- 
ber he stayed at the parsonage for nearly a week. The 
two must have sat in this identical parlour often enough 
— the awkward English youth with the big head and the 
prim and most decorous lady. They probably sat in the 
window, where, holding her hand, he would pour forth 
appropriate adoration in his recently acquired French. 

317 



The Lake of Geneva 

Madame Necker, when she became a person of wealth 
and position, was very kind to her poor relations in Vaud. 
She was also a little frightened of them. Fear came 
upon her in this wise. A certain cousin " Toton," who 
very probably lived in a cottage at Grassier, wrote to the 
great lady and expressed a cousinly desire to pay her a 
visit in Paris. This produced a panic which found expres- 
sion in a letter written by Madame Necker to a friend. 
In this rather too candid epistle the translated parson's 
daughter thus sets forth her views. 

" Could I have the audacity," she asks, " to make her change 
her name or disavow my relationship to her ? Even if I were 
willing to do so, would my husband and my servants keep my 
secret ? On the other hand, how could I introduce her as my 
relation in a house frequented by persons of all ranks in society, 
and in which, to be appropriately dressed, she would have to 
spend at least a thousand French crowns a year ? To say 
nothing of her manners, her way of speaking and a thousand 
other trifles which, without detracting from her real merit, 
would make the most unfortunate impression in a country in 
which people judge by appearances." ^ 

Immediately behind the Curchod house is an inn 
called ''The Inn of the White Goose." A sign-board 
painted just one hundred years ago hangs over the road 
from a corner of the building. On it, in fitting colours, 
is the figure of a white goose and the words, " Logis a 
Pied et a Cheval.^^ Above the goose is inscribed " Mon 
Oie paye tout,^^ which evidently embodies an ingenious 
play upon the word monnaie.^ So there were wits, it 
seems, in Grassier in old days and in more houses than 
one. 

1 Gribble. Op. cit., page"^24. 
■ 2 Spelt and pronounced monnoie in the 17th Century. 

318 



XLVIII 

THE TOWN THAT IS NOT A TOWN 

THE country between Coppet and Versoix, 
traversed by the Geneva road, is very pretty, 
very homely and as radiant with the joy of hving 
as any good-hearted, sunny land can be. Versoix is, 
however, a perplexity. There are two Versoix — Versoix 
la Ville and Versoix le Bourg. There is a further 
complication inasmuch as the latter was formerly 
distinguished as Versoix le Village. 

Now a tram-line runs from Geneva to Versoix. It 
passes through le Bourg, and some way farther on stops 
at la Ville, where the line abruptly terminates. The 
traveller, coming from Geneva, will have to decide 
whether he will stop at Versoix le Bourg or will go on 
to la Ville, because the conductor is sure to ask him. 
If he resolves to go to Versoix la Ville he will find 
himself deposited, not in a town, but in the country. 
He will, in fact, be put down on a white high road with 
fields on one side and the thickly wooded grounds of a 
mansion on the other. He will see no street, no 
church, no cafe and, indeed, no house. It is as if a 
Londoner wishing to go to Richmond found himself 
deposited in the middle of Richmond Park. Whatever 
Versoix la Ville may be, it is quite evident that it is not 
a town nor even a suburb. 

The stranded visitor probably takes the returning 

319 



The Lake of Geneva 

tram and alights at Versoix le Bourg. He here finds 
himself in a town, an undoubted town, with a railway 
station, a pier, a grocer's shop and a police station. 
There is no possibility of mistaking it. It is a town. 
The other place is not. 

It is a town that looks its best from the Lake, for 
the houses come down to the water's edge in leisurely 
fashion and lean over the wall like idle men. There is 
a modest promenade shaded by plane trees, and, in its 
general bearing, the place may be a fragment of old 
Chelsea in its unpretentious days. It is indeed a suburb 
of Geneva where town folk come on high days and 
holidays for boating and for a day in the country. It 
presents no more interest than such a suburb may be 
expected to afford. On one large house is a tablet which 
states that on its site in the 13th century stood the 
Chateau of Versoix. An old print ^ of the 16th century 
shows the little town as completely surrounded by a 
wall and as having in its centre the selfsame chateau in 
the form of a lofty round tower. This drawing depicts 
Versoix at an unhappy moment of its career. It shows 
it in process of being besieged and — worse than that — 
displays the enemy, like a swarm of ants, pouring into 
the town. 

This, however, does not explain the bold-faced 
imposture of Versoix la Ville. The title is not a jest, 
but rather a term of derision. In 1766 Geneva and 
France were at loggerheads. The grounds of the dispute 
are immaterial. A "Plan of Mediation," proposed by 
France, was presented to Geneva in December, 1766, 

1 " Histoire populaire dii Canton de Geneve," par H. Denkinger-Rod. 
Geneva, 1905. Page 209. 

320 



The Town That is Not a Town 

and was uncouthly rejected. France in revenge resolved 
to blockade the city, and at once closed the frontier 
which separated the canton from the greater state. 
This action — from the French point of view — was not 
quite a success. Geneva had an exit through Savoy and 
could still reach Lyons, the great mart with which she 
was so intimately concerned. France, on the other 
hand, where it bordered on Geneva, was seriously 
inconvenienced, since the supplies of the district were 
largely drawn from that city. 

Voltaire, who was busy with his colony at Ferney, 
found himself in great straits and declared that his 
people were in risk of being starved. On February 10th, 
1767, he wrote to the French Ambassador in Switzerland 
suggesting that, to punish Geneva, a port should be 
established at Versoix, and that to the new port the 
vast trade of Lyons should be diverted. The scheme, 
if successful, would go far to ruin Geneva. 

The Due de Choiseul at once gave the proposal his 
hearty support. In the summer of 1767 the plans for 
Versoix la Ville were completed and the construction of 
the new road that would lead to Lyons was commenced. 
The first thing demanded at Versoix was the port. It 
was to be called ''Port Choiseul." By May, 1768, 
some 2,000 men were employed in the construction of 
this harbour which was to rival that of Geneva. The 
port was to be square in outline and was to present, on 
either side of the entrance, a low square tower. A 
detailed plan of Port Choiseul is given in M. Jean 
Ferrier's interesting w^ork on Versoix.^ The construc- 

1 " Le Due de Choiseul, Voltaire et la Creation de Versoix-la-Ville, 1766- 
1777." Geneva, 1922. 

V 321 



The Lake of Geneva 

tion was so rapidly advanced that the moles were very 
nearly completed. The great drought of 1920-21 caused 
the Lake to sink to a degree almost unprecedented, 
with the result that the harbour works of 1768 came 
into full view. A photograph in M. Ferrier's book 
shows the once submerged harbour as it appeared in 
1921. The moles — constructed of stonework supported 
by piles — are so complete that it was possible to walk 
from one end of the harbour wall to the other. 

With the town little progress was made. It was 
plotted out on the ground behind the port, and, from 
the plan given by M. Ferrier, it would have been, if 
completed, a town of no little magnificence. It was 
hexagonal in outline and surrounded by a wall. It was 
to contain a custom-house and many warehouses, an 
hotel de ville, a hospital, bridges and canals, an obelisk, 
fountains and fine boulevards. Through the centre of 
the town ran the present highway, passing in its progress 
across a spacious Rond Point. The streets were arranged 
on rectangular lines, as in a new American city, and 
were dignified by such names as the Rue Choiseul, the 
Place Roy ale, the Avenue Richelieu, etc. The actual 
building operations did not advance beyond a few huts 
for the workmen, a stone house for the officials and a 
canteen. 

In 1770 the great Minister Choiseul fell from grace, 
and with his disappearance the phantom town vanished. 
The area is now occupied by a few Lake-side mansions 
with wide-extending grounds. A fine cedar marks the 
entry into the invisible city. There is no indication of 
a quay, since the gardens reach to the water's edge. 
The would-be streets are now lawns and thickets. A 

322 



The Town That is Not a Town 

wooded lane or two, running straight to the Lake, may 
possibly indicate the position of some ambitious Rue 
Centrale or Rue de la Paix. There is still, however, 
the Rond Point. It is marked out by a circle of stone 
posts which, no doubt, in the city of Choiseul, would 
have been connected by massive chains gracefully looped. 
With a wish to be helpful to the tourist, I would 
suggest that if he wants to go to the Town of Versoix 
he should not go to Versoix the Town. 



323 



XLIX 

VOLTAIRE AT FERNEY 

BETWEEN Versoix and Geneva there is one place 
where the steamer stops. It is called Belle viie, 
and is worthy of its name, but is of no other 
interest, being merely a pretty villa-suburb of Geneva. 
Less than two miles inland from Bellevue, however, and 
invisible from the Lake, is the world-famed village of 
Ferney. Ferney lies in the plain which stretches from 
the foot of the Jura Mountains to the Lake. It is in 
France ; just in France, for it is but a little way beyond 
the frontier. It is 3|- miles from Geneva, with which 
it is connected by a tramway and by a shady road 
through cornfields, vineyards and other pleasant places. 
Voltaire, wearied by many wanderings and soured by 
the experience of many homes, settled down at Ferney 
in 1758 when he was 64 years of age. At Ferney he 
spent the remainder of his days, a period of no less 
than twenty years. Th€ property was bought in the 
name of his niece and housekeeper, Madame Denis, who 
was also his heiress. Ferney at the time was a wretched 
hamlet occupied by forty or fifty equally wretched in- 
habitants who were *' devoured by poverty, scurvy and 
tax gatherers." ^ The state of the peasantry in France at 
this period was indeed deplorable. They lived in hovels 

I " Life of Voltaire," by S. G. Tallentyre. Vol. II, page 78. 

324 



Voltaire at Ferney 

scarcely fit for cattle ; three-fourths of what they earned 
was seized as taxes; there was a heavy duty upon salt, 
and the chief means of sustenance was black bread. 
They were crushed by the tyranny of their masters, 
were forbidden to fence their lands lest my lord's hunt- 
ing should be hindered, to manure their crops lest the 
flavour of my lord's game should be spoiled, and to weed 
their vineyards lest the partridges should be disturbed. 

For the hungry folk of Ferney Voltaire changed to 
summer the winter of their discontent. Before ten years 
had passed he had built a fine village with homes for 
some hundreds of inhabitants, among whom there was 
not a poor person. He obtained a reduction of taxes, 
re-acquired rights of which the villagers had been 
robbed, set up a school, provided a doctor and secured 
work for everyone on his domain. He well merited the 
title of the '* Patriarch of Ferney " and the blessings of 
all who came within the range of his benevolence. 

The chateau at Ferney was old and ruinous, 
picturesque no doubt, but impossible as a place to 
live in. It was entered through two towers connected 
by a drawbridge according to the plan of a maison 
forte of mediaeval times. Voltaire pulled it down and 
built in its place the chateau which now stands. He 
was his own architect and, being ignorant of that art, 
wisely followed the lines of the country mansion of his 
day. The result is a plain, comfortable house which, 
as Tallentyre says, has '' no architectural merit except 
that its ugliness is simple." The house contained 
fourteen bedrooms, and such was the hospitality of the 
patriarch that they were never for long unoccupied. 

Inconveniently near the house was a tumble-down old 

325 



The Lake of Geneva 

church, which, in spite of the violent protests of the 
priest, was got rid of in 1761. Voltaire, in the same 
year, built a church to take its place, but erected it at 
a point farther removed from the chateau. On it he 
caused to be inscribed the words, " Deo erexit Voltaire." 
He explained this inscription by saying that the church 
was the only one in the world erected to God alone and 
not to a saint. 

He laid out a garden by the chateau on the lines of 
gardens that in the course of his wanderings had pleased 
him, planted innumerable trees, put all the land under 
vigorous cultivation and erected immense farm buildings 
which, to this day, fill the passer-by with admiration. 
The change accomplished in Ferney by this remarkable 
man was little less than miraculous, for in the place of 
a rotting hamlet and a ruined castle buried in a desert 
of brambles and weeds he produced a trim, bustling, 
well-to-do little town, together with as prosperous a 
farm as was to be found in the countryside. 

Under the roof of the new chateau of Ferney was 
gathered one of the strangest households in the annals 
of domestic life. In the first place the master of the 
house presented an unusual and arresting figure, comic 
to some degree, yet to some degree alarming. A quaint, 
emaciated man whose skin was drawn over his cheek 
bones like parchment, who had a high, narrow forehead, 
bare as a skull, a determined mouth that was a mere 
slit, as if the toothless jaws had snapped together like 
a trap, while in this death's head were two large, rest- 
less eyes as bright and as keen as those of a hawk. It 
was with some reason that he was called ' ' the famous 
old skeleton" and ''the old owl of Ferney." 

326 



Voltaire at Ferney 

His garb, too, was very odd. At the time when he 
bought Ferney he is described as appearing '' in a long 
pehsse, a black velvet cap, and a peruke which covered 
almost all his face except the nose and chin, which by now 
nearly met." ^ He would be seen working in his garden 
in old grey shoes and stockings, a long vest to his knees, 
the same black velvet cap and the huge drooping peruke 
which hung from his head like a spaniel's ears. He was 
the sort of object in the street that set children scream- 
ing and that dogs barked at. He knew he was pecuhar, 
and would ask, when people came to see him, *' Have 
they come to see the rhinoceros?" When he went 
abroad he affected an antique type of carriage which was 
painted a bright blue, was speckled with gold stars and 
was drawn by four horses. 

Another person in this strange menage was Madame 
Denis, Voltaire's niece and housekeeper. She was a 
widow and, at the time of the purchase of Ferney, was 
48 years of age. She was tiresome, extravagant, idle 
and utterly incompetent. She was under the impression 
that she possessed literary gifts and personal attractions. 
Instead of managing the house, she devoted her time to 
writing preposterous plays or to inditing amorous letters 
to imagined admirers. She was short and fat and well 
described as '* Madame Roundabout." Among her 
minor accomplishments, she squinted. The brilliant, 
epigrammatic Madame d'Epinay speaks of her as 
'' entirely comic, ugly but good-natured, and a liar 
simply from habit." Besides muddhng everything she 
did, she bullied her uncle, who found that the house 
could only be cleaned and put in order when she was 

1 Tallentyre. Op. cit. Vol. II, page 69. 



The Lake of Geneva 

away. After Voltaire's death she married again, at the 
ripe age of 69, and it is reported — to show the dis- 
crimination of justice — that her husband bulhed her as 
she had buUied her uncle. 

How the house was managed under this feckless 
playwright is a mystery, for it was more like an hotel 
than a private dwelling. There were no fewer than sixty 
or seventy persons about the place, including the five 
servants who waited at table. Visitors called almost 
every day. If they were strangers, Voltaire would send 
down a message that he was dying, and if they came 
again would excuse himself on the ground that he was 
still dying. Those who came to sup stayed the night, 
for there was no inn in Ferney. Those who came on a 
visit of a few days were apt to stay for weeks or even 
for months. One relative — who was paralysed — remained 
at Ferney ten years, until, in fact, he died. At two 
different periods there was an adopted daughter 
living in the chateau in addition to this ever-changing 
company. 

The second of these casual daughters was a very 
pretty young woman who ran about the house and in 
and out of the garden, singing and laughing the day 
through. She was clever and gentle and possessed of as 
sweet a disposition as woman ever had. Voltaire adored 
her, while her affection for him was the solace of his 
declining days. She came to Ferney in 1776. Voltaire 
called her Belle-et-Bonne, but her real name was 
Mademoiselle Reine Philibert de Varicourt. She 
belonged to a noble family, was penniless and destined 
for a convent. Voltaire came across her as a total 
stranger. He picked her up as he would have picked 

328 



Voltaire at Ferney 

up a stray kitten, took her to Ferney and devoted him- 
self to making her happy. She was married to the 
Marquis de Villette in 1777 in the Ferney chapel; but 
she never deserted the old patriarch who had brought 
joy into her life. She was with him when he died, and 
after his death devoted herself to the glorification of his 
memory. 

Belle-et-Bonne at Ferney is a picture to linger over, 
the picture of a pretty, light-hearted girl taking charge 
of a cynical, violent old man who was always fighting 
with someone and who was to so many an object of 
terror or of hate. She arranged his papers, soothed him 
when he was irritable, joked at his bitter and sardonic 
thrusts and treated him, in a motherly way, as a great 
petulant baby. A stranger picture still would be pre- 
sented by the salon at Ferney on a summer's morning, 
when Voltaire, in his long-skirted coat and dangling 
peruke, would be seen — at the age of 83 — teaching the 
laughter-shaken Belle-et-Bonne how to dance. 

The household at Ferney cannot be completed with- 
out mention of the fat Swiss servant Barbara. She was 
the comedian of the group, the comic servant out of a 
French farce, the licensed jester in an otherwise solemn 
establishment. Voltaire was delighted with her, appre- 
ciated her humour and called her his Bonne-Baba. She, 
on the other hand, told her master, in her comic way, 
some home truths, and especially ridiculed the idea that 
he had any common sense. Once when he had made 
himself ill by an indiscretion in diet she laughed in his 
rueful face and said, " With all your cleverness you are 
sillier than your own turkeys." 

Voltaire's industry and versatility were amazing. He 

329 



The Lake of Geneva 

was probably the most voluminous writer who ever lived. 
Although he did not rise until 11, he did a great deal 
of his work in bed, for he slept but little. In his room 
were five desks devoted to the separate subjects with 
which he was at the moment engaged. One would be 
given up to a drama, another to a poem, a third to a 
skittish letter to a lady or a kindly note to someone in 
distress, while the fourth would display the material for 
a biting criticism which would wound an opponent like 
the thrust of a rapier. 

Although born and brought up in a city, Voltaire 
taught himself farming, made his land pay, and became 
a typical squire and prosperous country gentleman. One 
can imagine him taking a sample of his own wheat out 
of a deep pocket and pouring the grain from one skinny 
hand to the other as he haggled with the miller over the 
price, or prodding a sheep sarcastically with his stick as 
he disputed its value with the dealer. He kept bees — 
had, indeed, four to five hundred hives — cultivated silk- 
worms, bred horses and had a barn for fifty cows. 

When the serious civic troubles in Geneva drove a 
body of artisans out of the town, he offered a sanctuary 
to some fifty malcontent watchmakers, advanced them 
money, found them material and provided them with 
houses. The colony flourished, so that in 1773 Voltaire, 
poet, critic and dramatist, sold no fewer than 4,000 
watches at a profit, thanks to his energy and his per- 
sistent touting for orders. Having a store of raw silk, 
he started silk weaving, and — like Madame de Warens 
— began with the making of silk stockings. He sent 
the first pair to the Duchesse de Choiseul with a pretty 
compliment as to the size of her foot. This enterprise 

330 



Voltaire at Ferney 

also flourished, while the colony added to its industries, 
in course of time, the making of lace and of linen. 

After Voltaire's death in 1778— at the age of 84— 
Madame Roundabout inherited Ferney. She promptly 
sold it. It was occupied for some time by Belle-et-Bonne 
and her husband, and when, finally, the property was 
disposed of, all relics of Voltaire were scattered to the 
winds, including even the Chinese wall-paper of his 
especial room. 

Ferney at the present day is a pretty little village, 
very quiet, but rather without purpose, for every trace 
of Voltaire's busy colony has disappeared. It consists 
of one long street, through which the tramway runs, 
and of one or two side-streets. The main street has 
been modernized, but not unpleasantly; while in one of 
the by-streets can be seen a part of Ferney as Voltaire 
left it. The houses here are simple and of two stories, 
are all alike, are all grey and uniformly faded-looking. 
The ground floor of each is occupied by a large round 
arch beneath which was the shop or the workroom. All 
now are closed and the small lane is very quiet. It calls 
to mind some of the humbler by-ways of Versailles, and 
is so unlike the ordinary village street as to give to 
Ferney a quite distinctive character. 

Under a large plane tree in the village are a fountain 
and a bust of Voltaire, while in the main road stands a 
very pleasing statue of the Patriarch of Ferney in out- 
door dress. It is so lifelike that if the figure could step 
down from its pedestal one would see in the street the 
curious old gentleman, thin and bent but very eager in 
his glance, taking a walk through the village he had 
made. 

331 



The Lake of Geneva 

The chateau is a httle outside Ferney and on higher 
ground. It is a simple, homely-looking house of two 
main stories, built in a faintly classical style, roofed with 
slate, and presenting throughout a uniform tint of 
grey, for even the sun-shutters are grey. It is, indeed, 
nothing more than the house of a well-to-do gentleman 
farmer who had chosen to live among his cornfields and 
his vineyards. In front of the house is a tall iron rail- 
ing, and just within the railing is the church, with its 
prominent inscription, " Deo erexit Voltaire." It is a 
little stone building with round-arched windows and 
door. Its charming simplicity is spoiled by a vulgar 
clock tower, which is evidently an addition of more 
modern and less considerate days. It appears to be used 
merely as a storeroom. 

The grounds around the chateau are small and simple, 
are well wooded and are enclosed within a high wall. 
There is no pretence to a park, for the house is simply 
a house on a farm. The country around, but for a 
vineyard or two, is singularly English, and, indeed, if 
the vines were replaced by hop-fields it would be a 
part of Kent. The view from the chateau is singularly 
beautiful, for to the north are the Jura Mountains and 
the brilliant plain stretched out at their feet; while on 
the south are the Lake, the hills of Savoy and the 
dazzling range of Mont Blanc. 

Walking one silent afternoon beneath the wall which 
guards the grounds of Ferney, I heard a burst of girlish 
laughter ring out from the terrace of the house. It 
may have come from the lips of some merry serving- 
maid, but I prefer to think that it was an echo of the 
long dead laughter of the radiant Belle-et-Bonne. 

332 



GruySres* 




INDEX 



" A Man of Other Days," by Char- 
lotte M. Yonge, 49 
" Abondance/' by L. E. Picard, 130 
Abondance, Abbey of, 130 et seq. 
and St. Gingolph, 138 
frescoes in cloister of, 133, 134 
Abondance, Burgundians at, 130 
Church and Monastery of, 129, 131, 

132 
Republic of, 130 
Valley of, 129 
wooden bridge at, 129 
Alabama, arbitration at Geneva, 24 
Alexander III, Pope, and Noville, 155 
Alix of Maxilly, Lady, story of, 126- 

128 
Allaman, Chateau des Menthon, at, 286 
Allaman Castle, near St. Paul, 123, 124 
" Allemagne," by Madame de Stael, 

303 
Allinges, castles of, 61-5 

11th century chapel at, 63, 64 
ridge of, 39, 64 
ruins of, 55, 61 
Allinges, the. Chateau of Beauregard 
and, 49 
Chateau of Chatelard and, 186 
Chateau of Thuyset and, 67 
Allobroges, Caesar and, 16 
Amadeus V (Le Grand), and Chateau 
de Fonbonne, 93 
and Evian, 90 
La Tour de Peilz and, 197 
Amadeus VI (the " Green Count "), 

69, 70, 213 
Amadeus VII (the "Red Count"), 70, 
287 
and Crassier, 316 
death of, 73 
fight with the wild boar of Lonnes, 

71 
Grandville and, 72, 73 



Amadeus VIII and Morges Castle; 
273 
as Bishop of Geneva, 75 
at Ripaille, 74 
death of, 75 

elected Pope (Felix V), 75 
first Duke of Savoy, 75 
re-interment at Turin of, 75 
Amiel, Henri, at Geneva, 20, 24 

" Journal Intime,' 172 
" AmieFs Journal," translated by Mrs. 

Humphry Ward, 20 
Amphion, 84 et seq. 
spa of, 84, 85 

Victor Amadeus II and his duchess 
at, 103 
Anieres, 40 

Anna Maria, as heir to English throne, 
103 
death of, 103 

meeting of, with Victor Amadeus II, 
100 et seq. 
Annecy, Mme. de Warens at, 206 
Antelme de Miolans, 46 
Antelme d'Yvoire, and Beatrice of 

Faucigny, 45 
Anthonioz, A., " Gen^raux Savoyards " 

by, 76 
Anthy-Sechex, 40 
" Au Pays Eviannais," by Alexis 

Bachellerie, 90, 118 
Aubonne, Chateau of, 288 

history of, 286 
" Aubonne a travers les Ages," 
by M. le Pasteur Duquesne, 
286 
" Autour du Lac Leman," by Guil- 

laume Fatio, 156, 281 
Aymon, Count of Savoy, Villeneuve, 
157 
founds hospital of St. Mary Ville- 
neuve, 157 



333 



Index 



B 

Bachellerie, Alexis, " Au Pays 

Eviannais," 90, 118 
Bailly de Lalonde, " Le Leman," 142, 

280 
Balleyson, de, family of, and Chateau 

of Beauregard, 49 
Banneret, origin of title of, 186 (foot- 
note) 
Barbille of Ghatelard, 184 et seq. 
" Bastille of Geneva," 16 
Basuges, St. Prothais, and, 279, 280 
Batista, Abraham de, and the Esca- 
lade, 34 
Beatrice, of Faucigny and Hermance, 
42 
and Nernier Castle, 44 
Antelme d'Yvoire and, 45 
Beattie, William, " Switzerland," 9 
Beaufort, Antoine de, 124 

and Chillon, 175 
Beauregard, 41 

Chateau of, 49, 53 
the Terror and, 50 
tragedy of, 48 et seq. 
" Beautes de I'Histoire de la Savoie 
et de Geneve," by P. Nougaret, 9 
Bedford, Duke of, and Maxilly, 125 
Begin, !fimile, " Voyage pittoresque en 

Suisse," 9 
Belle-et-Bonne {see Varicourt, Made- 
moiselle) 
Bellerive, Abbey of, 40 

Duke of Savoy and, 40 
Berchem, M. V. von, " Dictionnaire 
Historique du Canton de Vaud," 
311 
Bernard, Pere, " Mercure Acatique," 

by, 85 
Bernese, and Allinges, 62 
and Chillon, 175, 182 
and Monastery of Montjoux, 60 
at Lausanne, 244, 246 
attack and destroy Hermance, 43 
capture of Aubonne by, 67, 287 
capture of Ripaille by, 75 
La Tour du Peilz and, 198 
Nyon and, 290 
Reformation and, 244 



Bernex, Jean of, story of, 186, 187 
Berthelier, execution of, 16 
Berthold de Neuchatel and Tour de 

Bertholo, 237 
Bertholo, Tower of, 236 
Besan^on, Archbishop of, and Nyon, 

290 
Beze, statue of, in Geneva, 14 
" Black Death " at Villeneuve, 157 
Blanchard, the, 137 
Blanchet, " Delices de la Suisse," 244 
Blonay, de, Amed, story of, 118 et seq. 
Aymon and Castle of St. Paul, 

115 
Aymonnet and Chapel of St. George 

at Chiesaz, 213 
Barbille Nicolaide {see Barbille of 

Chatelard) 
Baron Louis, 117 
Claudine, burial alive of, 116, 117 
Franfoise, marriage of, to Etienne 

de Tavel, 186 
Gabriel and Chatelard, 186 
Jean de (Lord of Bernex), 186 
Marie Aimee and the seven angels, 

111 ; burial place of, 115 
Pierre, builder of the chateau, 211 
Raoul, and Lady Alix of Maxilly, 

126-8 
Simon as " Champion of the Mar- 
ried," 210 
vault of, at St. Paul, 115 
Blonay, de. Chateau of, at Evian, 93 ; 
Victor Amadeus II at, 103 
at St. Paul, 114 ef seq., 123 
at Tour Ronde, 123, 135 
at Vevey, 165, 191, 209 ; history of, 
210 et seq. 
Bogueret, death of, in the Escalade, 34 
Bois de Bedford, Maxilly, 125 
Bois de la Comte, 54 
Boissier, Edmund, dying wish of, 110 
Boniface, Bishop, of Lausanne and 

St. Prex, 280 
Bonivard (Prisoner of Chillon), 18, 93, 
179 et seq. 
dungeon of, in Chillon, 178 
Bonivards, the, and the Castle of 

Grillie, 93 
" Bonne-Baba," Voltaire and, 329 



334 



Index 



Bonne de Bourbon (Madame la 
Grande), and Grassier, 316 
and Ripaille, 69 et seq. 
death of, 74 
Bonstetten, Victor de, and Madame 
de Stael, 306 
at Coppet, 297 
at Nyon, 291, 292 
Boson, Bishop of Lausanne, and Juge- 

ment de Dieu, 240 
Bosquet de Julie, Clarens, 143, 146 
Bouchet, C. A., " Les Archives d'Evian 

avant, 1790," 90, 136 
Bougy, A. de, " Le Tour du Leman," 9, 

171, 242, 282 
Bouveret, 138, 152, 154 

John Evelyn at, 138, 147 et seq. 
Bouvier family, and Yvoire, 46 

house of, at Villeneuve, 159, 160 
Bouvier, Ferdinand, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Ghillon, 46 
treachery of, 160, 161 
Bouvier, Jehan (" Jehan of the Iron 

Arm "), 46 
Bret, 135, 136 
pass of, 136 
woods of, 136 
Broglie, Duchesse de, 300 (see footnote) 

311 
Broughton, at Vevey, 193, 194 
Bruchet, Max, " Le Chateau de 

Ripaille," by, 69, 71, 72, 74 
Brun, Madame le, portrait of Madame 

de Stael by, 307 
BrunauHeu, and the Escalade, 30, 34, 

35 
Burgundians and Allinges, 61 
at Abondance, 130 
at Aubonne, 286 
at Geneva, 9 
at Nyon, 289 
at Thonon, 54 
at Vevey, 190 
Burgundy, Geneva as capital of King- 
dom of, 9 
Byron, Lord, and Madame de Stael, 
306 
and " Prisoner of Ghillon," 179, 180 
at Glarens, 146, 172 
at Meillerie, 145 



Byron Lord, {continued) 
at Ouchy, 265 
at St. Gingolph, 146 
at Villa Diodati, Cologny, 40 



Galvin, at Disputation of Lausanne, 
246 
Bonivard and, 182 
house of, at Geneva, 19 
in State Gouncil Ghamber at Geneva, 

23 
lectures of, in the Auditoire, 26 
statue of, in Geneva, 14 
supposed chair of, Geneva Gathedral, 
25 
Ganal, Jean, and the Escalade, 34 
Garnot, General Lazare, at Nyon, 

292 
Ghablais, conversion of, 3 

St. Francis and, 64 
Ghalamala, Gerard, story of, 220 
Ghambery, Victor Amadeus II and 

Anna Maria at, 102 
Gharles Emmanuel, of Savoy, at Lau- 
sanne, 160, 161 
" Ghateaux, Manoirs et Monast^res des 
Environs de Geneve," by J. Lanz, 
125 
Ghatelard, Gastle of, 184 et seq. 
Ghessel, 154 

Ghillon Gastle, Bonivard's dungeon in, 
178 
capture of, by Bernese, 182 
dungeons in, 177, 178 
Ferdinand Bouvier, Governor of, 46, 

160, 161 
history of, 173 et seq. 
Jews of Villeneuve in, 157 
" Room No. 15," 176, 177 
torture chamber in, 177 
torture of Marie du Grest at, 162 
witches tortured in, 177 
Ghillon, Prisoner of, 18, 93, 178, 179 

et seq. 
Ghoiseul, Due de, and Versoix la Ville, 
321 



335 



Index 



Clarens, 165 

Byron at, 172 

Madame de Warens' house, " Le 
Basset," at, 201, 208 

Rousseau and, 141, 143, 171 

tomb of Amiel at, 172 
Coligny, on Reformation memorial at 

Geneva, 15 
Cologny, 39 

Villa Diodati, Byron at, 40 
Colombier, and Castle of Vufflens, 277 
Concise, Church of, 65 
Constant, Benjamin, at Coppet, 297, 
313 

on Madame de Stael, 304 
Conzie, M. de, and Madame de Warens, 

205, 207 
Coppet, Amedee de Viry and church 
of, 284, 310 

Benjamin Constant at, 297, 305, 313 

chateau of, 308 et seq. 

church of, 310 

Count de Sabran at, 297 

Gibbon at, 259 

Madame de Stael at, 297, 312 

Madame R^camier at, 297, 312 

town of, 308 et seq. 

Victor Bonstetten at, 297 

Werner at, 297 
" Corinne," by Madame de Stael, 303 
Corsant, Sieur de, Champion of the 

Bachelors, 210, 211 
Corsier, 40, 195 
Corsy, 240 

Cossonay, Humbert de, and Nyon, 290 
Costa de Beauregard, Marquis Henri, 
and Chateau of Beauregard, 49 

at Lausanne, 51 

Eugene, death of, 50 
Coudree, Bay of, 55 
Coudree-Sciez, 40, 41 
Courtavone, Catharine de, Bonivard 

and, 183 
Crans, 309 
Crassier, church of, 316 

description of, 315 et seq. 

Gibbon at, 317 

" Inn of the White Goose," 318 

Susanna Curchod's home at, 256, 
257, 315 et seq. 



Crest, Marie du, torture of, 162 
Cromwell, on Reformation memorial 

at Geneva, 15 
Cross, J. W., " George Eliot's Life," 

19 
Crousaz, Franeois, and Castle of Lutry, 

239 
Cully, 230 et seq. 

Curchod, M. Pastor of Crassier, 315 
Curchod, Susanna, 255, 256 

and Madame Vermenoux, 257 

career of, 298, 299 

Gibbon's engagement to, 256> 299 

home of, 315 et seq. 

marriage of, with Necker, 257, 258 

Necker and, 257 



D'Albert, Magdelaine, monument 

to, at Coppet, 310 
d'Arbigny, Robert, and Lady Alix of 

Maxilly, 126-8 
D'Aux, Burgomaster of Lucerne, story 

of, 160, 161 
Davel, Major, monument to, at Cully, 

231 
" Delices de la Suisse," by Blanchet, 

244 
Denis, Madame (" Madame Round- 
about "), and Voltaire, 324, 327 
inherits Ferney, 331 
Denkinger-Rod, H., " Histoire popu- 

laire du Canton de Geneve, 320 
Dent d'Oche, 83, 121 
Deonna and Renard, " L'Abbaye 

d'Abondance," 133 
d'Epinay, Madame, on Madame Denis, 

327 
Deyverdun, George, and Gibbon, 248, 

255, 260 
Dezaley, vineyards of, 229 
d'Haussonville, Comte, and Coppet, 

311 
" Dictionnaire Historique du Canton 

de Vaud," 156, 158, 169, 185, 197, 

209, 227, 228, 239, 240, 264, 271, 

293, 311 



336 



Index 



Diricq, Edouard, " Gruy^res en Gru- 

y^re," 220 
d'Oron, Marguerite, and Chapel of St. 

George, Chiesaz, 213 
Doumergue, Professor, 16, 17, 19, 

22 
Dranse, the, bridge over, 68 

gorge of, 54, 67 
Duin, Richard de, and Castle of 

Vufflens, 277 
Dunant, Jacques, and Castle of Grillie, 

93,95 
Dupas, General, purchase of Chateau of 

Ripaille hy, 75 
Duquesne, M. le pasteur, " Aubonne 

a travers les ftges," by, 286 
Durnes, Bishop Landri de, and Ouchy 

Castle, 264 



EuoT, George, at Geneva, 19 
Escalade, of Geneva, 18, 29 et seq, 

fountain of, 18, 33 

memorial of, in St. Gervais Church, 
27 

relics of, 36 
Excenevex, 55 

Evelyn, John, at Bouveret, 147 
et seq. 

at Geneva, 150, 151 

at Milan, 147 
Evian, 88 et seq. 

and Amphion Spa, 84, 85 

Bourg la Touuiire, 90 

Bourg St. Mary, 90 

Castle of Peter of Savoy, 90 

Chateau de Fonbonne, 93, 125 

Chateau of, 93 

Church of St. Mary, 91, 103 

Convent of St. Claire, 91 

Convent of the Cordehers, 91 

discovery of spring at, 94 

Gribalbi Chateau, 90 

history of, 89 et seq. 

Hdtel de Ville, 90, 91 

Jardin Anglais at, 94 

Madame de Warens at, 203, 204 

w 337 



Evian (continued) 
Rue de I'Eghse, 94 
Rue Nationale, 89 
the Cheval Blanc, 95 
the country round, 108 
the FSte-Dieu, 97 et seq. 
Victor Amadeus II at, 100 et seq. 
woods of Bret granted to, 136 



' Familiar Swiss Flowers,*' by F. E. 

Hulme, 110 
Farel, and the Disputation at Lausanne, 
246 
statue of, in Geneva, 14 
Fatio, Guillaume, " Autour du Lac 

L6man," 156, 281 
Faucigny, Lords of, and AUinges, 62 

and Hermance, 42 
Favre family, of Thonon, and monas- 
tery of Montjoux, 60 
Fazy, J., " Jean d'Yvoire au Bras de 

Fer," 46 
Felix v., Pope (see Amadeus VII) 

tower of, at Ripaille, 79 
Ferney, bust of Voltaire at, 331 
Chateau of, 325, 326, 332 
Gibbon at, 259 
" Madame Roundabout " inherits, 

331 
Voltaire at, 4, 324 et seq. 
Voltaire's Colony at, 330 
Ferrier, Jean, " Le Due de Choiseul, 
Voltaire et la Creation de Ver- 
soix-la- Ville, 1766-1777," by 321 
F6te-Dieu, the, at Evian, 97 et seq. 
Feternes, fairy grotto at, 127 
Filly, Abbey of, 44, 45 
Fonbonne, Chateau de, 93, 125 
Foras, de, family, and Chateau of 

Thuyset, 67 
Former, Antoine, and Yvoire, 46 
Fornier, Pierre, and St. Francis, 58 
Franks, and Alhnges, 61 

at Geneva, 9 
Fromment, A., " Les Actes et Gestes 
Merveilleux de la CiU de Geneve," 
by, 9 



Index 



Galiffe, on Madame de Stael, 303 
*' Gen^raux Savoyards," by A. An- 

thonioz, 76 
Geneva, Alabama settlement at, 24 

alleys of, 27 

appearance of, 7, 8 

as capital of Burgundian Kingdom, 9 

Auditoire, the, 26 

Bastille of, 16 

Berthelier, statue at, 16 

Beze, statue at, 14 

Bourg-de-Four, 9, 10, 17, 20, 21, 22 

Calvin and, 19, 182 

Cathedral of, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25 

character of, 6 et seq. 

Church of St. Germain, 25 

Corraterie, the, 33, 34, 35 

Escalade, the, 29 et seq. 

Escalade Tower, 36 

Evelyn and Wray at, 150, 151 

fountain of the Escalade, 18, 33 

Franks at, 9 

frescoes in Town Hall, 23, 24 

Fusterie, the, 17 

George Eliot at, 19 

German Empire and, 10 

Grande Rue, 18 

Hen Steps (D^gres de Poule), 21 

High Town, 17 

He des Bergues, 13 

Julius Csesar at, 16 

Knox statue in, 14 

L'lle, 16 

Low Town, 16 

Madeleine, the, 25 

Molard, the, 17 

Monnaie Gate, 33, 34, 35, 36 

Musee d'Art et Histoire, 12, 36 

Old Bridge, 10 

Passage des Barri^res, 27 

penthouses at, 11, 17, 18 

Place Bel Air, 16, 33 

Place de Longemalle, 17 

Place de Notre-Dame du Pont, 33 

Place du Grand Mezel, 18 

Porte de la Treille, 34 

Porte Neuve, 34, 35 

promenade of La Treille, 24 



Geneva (continued) 
Quartier St. Pierre, 9 
Rath Museum, 31 
Red Cross Society founded at, 24 
Reformation monument in, 14 
Rousseau's birthplace in, 18 
Rousseau's Island, 13 
Rousseau's works burnt at, 23 
Rue Calvin, 10, 12, 19 
Rue de Beauregard, 9 
Rue d' Italic, 9 

Rue de la C\t6, 11, 17, 18, 20, 32, 34 
Rue de la Fontaine, 20, 21 
Rue de I'Hdtel du Ville, 20 
Rue de la P^lisserie, 18, 19 
Rue du Puits St. Pierre, 20 
Rue du Temple, 27 
Rue Verdaine, 20 
Ruskin on, 8, 11 
St. Gervais Quartier, 26 
Shelley at, 10, 11 
Tavel house, 20 
Tertasse Gate, 34, 35 
the Rhone at, 12, 13 
Town Hall, 17, 22, 23 
Turrettini house, 20 
Walls of, 9, 10 
Geneva, Lake of, birds of, 109 
colour of, 5 
dimensions of, 1 
entry of the Rhone to, 152 
flora of, 110 
Lake-dwellers of, 12 
Petit Lac, the, 44 

road from Vevey to Lausanne by, 224 
sea-gulls on, 14 
shore between Evian and Rhone 

valley, 135 
shore between Lausanne and Geneva, 

269 
shore between the Dranse and the 

Rhone, 83 
shore between Vevey and Lausanne, 

165 
shores from Geneva to the Dranse, 39 
topographical features of, 2, 3 
Geneva Museum, 12 

altar of Bellerive Abbey in, 40 
bust and uniform of Necker in, 298 
Madame de Stael's portrait in, 307 



338 



Index 



Geneva Museum (continued) 
relics of Escalade in, 36 
relics of lake-dwellers in, 272 
*' George Eliot's Life," by J. W. Cross, 

19 
Georges d'Antioche and Yvoire, 46 
Germans and Geneva, 10 
Gibbon and George DeyA'^erdun, 248, 
255 
and Madame de Stael, 259 
and Mdlle. Gurchod, 255, 256, 299,317 
at Grassier, 256 
at " La Grotte," 260 
at Lausanne, 247, 252 et seq., 258 
death of, 259 

meeting with Voltaire, 259 
" Memoirs of My Life," by, 258 
strange career of, 260 
" The Dechne and Fall of the Roman 
Empire," by, 260 
* Gibraltar of the Lake " (Yvoire), 44 
Gingins, Francois de, and Chatelard, 

186 
Gingins, Jean de, and Barony of 

Chatelard, 186 
Glerolles, Chateau of, 224, 227 
Cilion, 165, 170 
Godefroy de Bouillon, and Chateau of 

Nernier, 43, 44 
Gondebaud, Castle of, at Geneva, 9 
Gorge du Chauderon, 170 
Grammont, the, 136 
Grande Rive, 135 

Grandson, Othon de, and Castle of 
Coppet, 311 
Lord of Aubonne, 286 
and the " Red Count," 73, 74 
Grandville, and the " Red Count," 72 

arrest and death of, 74 
" Great Stone, The," story of, 118 
' * Green Count," the (see Amadeus VI) 
Grenier, Madame, and " La Grotte," 

261 
Greysier family, and Chateau de Mont- 

joux-St. Bernard, 59 
Gribaldi Chateau, Evian, 90 
Gribble, F., " Lake Geneva and its 
Literary Landmarks," 182, 194 
" Madame de Stael and Her Lovers," 
256, 305, 318 



Grol^e, Castle of, Bonivard imprisoned 

in, 181 
" Groot Stedeboek van Piemont en 

van Savoye," 67, 93, 115, 126 
Gruerric, Etienne, and Crassier, 316 
Gruyere, Jean, Count of, 213 
Gruyeres, 215 et seq. 
" Gruyeres en Gruyere," by Edouard 

Diricq, 220 
Guillet-Monthoux, family, at Thonon, 

57 
Guy of Feternes, and Priory of Abond- 

ance, 130 



H 

Haggard, Lt.-Col. Andrew, " Madame 
de Stael, Her Trials and Tri- 
umphs," by, 305 

Harpe, Cesar de la, birthplace of, 283 
obehsk to, at Rolle, 283 

Haunted lake, the, of La Gotetta, 121, 
122 

Haute Savoie, provinces of, 62 (foot- 
note) 

" Haute Savoie," by A. Raverat, 65, 
115 

Helvetes, the, Julius Caesar and, 
16 

Helvetians, defeat Romans at Noville, 
156 

Hermance, 41, 42, 43 

Chapel of St. Catherine at, 43 
tower of, 43 

Hermengarde, Queen of Burgundy and 
Hermance, 42 

Hill, G. Birkbeck, edition of Gibbon's 
Memoirs by, 261 

" Histoire de Thonon," by L. E. Pic- 
card, 55 

* Histoire du Canton de Vaud," by P. 
Maillefer, 158, 228, 266, 296 

' Histoire populaire du Canton de 
neve," by H. Denkinger-Rod, 
320 

•' Historic Studies in Vaud, Berne, and 
Savoy," by Meredith Read, 47, 
91, 95, 123, 159, 160, 177, 191, 
200, 208, 245, 249, 250, 260 



339 



Index 



'History of a Six- Weeks' Tour," by 

Shelley, 11, 95, 145 
" History of Evian," by Noble F. 

Prevost, 90 
Holly of the Talking Cats, legend 

of, 126-8 
Huber, Mdlle., on Madame de Stael, 304 
Hugues, Bishop, of Lausanne, 266 
Hugues de Chalons, and Louise of 

Savoy, 92 
Hulme, F. E., " Familiar Swiss 

Flowers," by, 110 
Humbert of the White Hands, 2 
Hume, Alexander, and Escalade, 32 



I 

Ile des Bergues, 13 
" Itinera Alpine," by J. J. Scheuch- 
zeri, 242 



Jean de Cossonay and the Bishopric 
of Lausanne, 247 

*' Jean d'Yvoire au Bras de Fer," by 
J. Fazy, 46 

Jehan of the Iron Arm {see Bouvier, 
Jehan) 

Jews of Villeneuve, arrested and tor- 
tured, 157 

Jordane de Lucinges, story of, 118 

" Journal Intime," by Henri Amiel, 20, 
172 

Jugement de DieUy 240 

•' Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise," by 
J. J. Rousseau, 141, 142, 171 

Julius Csesar, at Geneva, 16 



Knox, John, statue of, in Geneva, 14 

in Geneva, 26 
Kriidner, Madame de, at Coppet, 297 



'L'Abbaye d'Abondance," by 

Deonna and Renard, 133 
" L'Abbaye et la Vallee d'Abondance," 

by J. Mercier, 130 
" L'Ancienne Geneve," by J. Mayor, 9, 

43 
La Belotte, 40 
La Chavanne, the " Red Count " at, 

71 
La Chiesaz, 212, 213, 214 
La Cote, vineyards of, 269 

hill of, 286 
La Flechere, tower of, 65 
siege of, 66 
convent at, 67 
La Gotetta, haunted lake at, 121 
' La Grotte," Gibbon at, 260 

pilgrims at, 261 
La Gruz, of Evian, 90 
" L.2L Haute Savoie," by Francis Wey, 

76, 95, 126 
La Maladi^re, Leper and plague hos- 
pital, 270 
La Sarra, and Chatelard, 185 
La SocieU du Printemps of Lausanne, 

258 
La Tour de Peilz, 165, 197 
Lake-dwelhngs on Lake Geneva, 12, 

271 
" Lake Geneva and its Literary Land- 
marks," by F. Gribble, 182, 
194 
Lamartine, at Nernier, 44 
Landri de Durnes, Bishop, and Tower 

of Marsens, 229 
Lanz, J., " Chateaux, Manoirs et 
monast^res des Environs de 
Geneve," by, 125 > 
Larringes, Castle of, 118 
Lausanne, appearance of, 241, 
242 
Bourg, the, 242, 247, 248 
Cathedral de Notre Dame, 245 
Charles Emmanuel of Savoy at, 160, 

161 
Chateau of, 243 
Church of St. Francis, 249 
Cit^, the, 242, 243 



340 



Index 



Lausanne (continued) 
Convention of, 295 
Disputation at, 246 
Episcopal Palace at, 247, 248 
Gibbon at, 247, 252 et seg. 
Hotel de Ville, 249 
Hdtel Gibbon, 261, 262 
La Societe du Printemps, 258 
Market Stairs, 250 
Marquise Costa de Beauregard, 

50 
Place de la Palud, 249 
Reformation at, 244 
Rue de Bourg, 248 
Rue du Grand Chene, 249 
St. Laurent, 242 
Tour de I'Ale, 243 
Voltaire's house at, 249 
Le Basset, Madame de Warens' house, 

201, 208 
" Le Chateau de Ripaille," by Max 

Bruchet, 69 
*' Le Due de Choiseul, Voltaire et la 
Creation de Versoix-la- Ville, 1766- 
1777," by Jean Ferrier, 321 
" Le Leman," by Bailly de Lalonde, 

142, 280 
" Le Sanglier de la Foret de Lonnes," 

by J. Replat, 71 
" Le Tour du Leman," by A. de 

Bougy, 9, 171, 242, 282 
•' Le Village illustre," 214 
" Les Actes et Gestes Merveilleux de 
la Cite de Geneve," by A. From- 
ment, 9 
" Les Archives d'Evian avant, 1790," 

by C. A. Bouchet, 90, 136 
Les Charmettes, Madame de Warens 

at, 200, 207 
Les Echelles, Anna Maria and, 100 et 
seq. 
Victor Amadeus II and, 100 et seq. 
Les Planches, 169, 170 
Les Voirons, 39, 55 
" Life of Voltaire," by S. G Tallentyre, 

324, 325, 327 
Lisle at Vevey, 193 
Lonnes, Forest of, legend of the " Red 

Count " and, 71 
Louis de Sales, 64 



Louise of Savoy and Notre-Dame des 
Graces at Evian, 92 

Loys, Sebastian de, and Madame de 
Warens, 201 
birthplace of, at Lausanne, 250 

Lucinges, the, and Chateau of Thuy- 
set, 67 
Jordane de, 118 

Ludlow, Lt.-General Edmund, house 
of, at Vevey, 193 

Lullin, Albert Eugene de Geneve, Mar- 
quis de, and convent at Thonon, 
57 

Lutry, 236 et seq. 
Castle of, 239 



M 

Macaulay, on Madame de Stael, 303 
" Madame de Stael," by A. Stevens, 

297, 302 
" Madame de Stael and Her Lovers," 

by F. Gribble, 256, 305, 318 
" Madame de Stael, Her Trials and 
Triumphs," by Lt.-Col. Andrew 
Haggard, 305 
" Madame de Warens," by A. de 

Montet, 207 
" Madame Roundabout " (see Denis, 

Madame) 
Magdalen College, Oxford, Gibbon at, 

252, 253 
Maillefer, P., " Histoire du Canton de 

Vaud," by, 158, 228, 266, 296 
Marsens, Tower of, 229 
Maxilly, Castle of, 123, 125 
bois de Bedford at, 125 
" Holly of the Talking Cats," and, 
126-8 
Mayor, J., " L'Ancienne Geneve," 9, 

43 
Mazue, Pernette, Bonivard and, 183 
Meillerie, 84, 135, 139 
Bosquet de Julie, 143, 146 
Byron and Shelley at, 145 
church of, 140 
La Couronne, Inn at, 143 
Love story of, 139 et seq. 



W* 



341 



Index 



Meillerie (continued) 

Rocks of, 139 
" Memoires et Documents de 1' Aca- 
demic Chablaisienne," 44, 46, 49, 
55, 59, 90, 130 
*' Memoirs of My Life," by Edward 

Gibbon, 258 
** Memoirs of the Marquis de Beau- 
regard," by Charlotte M. Yonge, 56 
Menthon, Chateau des, Voltaire and, 

286 
Mercier, I., " L'Abbaye et la Vallee 

d'Abondance," 130 
Mercier, Isaac, and the Escalade, 35 
" Mercure Acatique," by P^re Bernard, 

85 
Mesery, M. de, Gibbon's association 

with, 258 
Milan, John Evelyn at, 147 
Mont Blanc, view of, from Ferney, 332 
view of, from Morges, 272 
view of, from Nyon, 292 
view of, from Signal de Bougy, 269 
Mont, Castle of, 284 
Mont Pelerin, 165 
Mont Saleve, 55 
Montet, A. de, " Madame de Warens," 

207 
Mont d'Armonnaz, 54 
Mont de Boisy, 39 
Montfalcon, Aymon de, and Chateau 

of GleroUes, 227 
Montfalcon, Bishop Sebastien de, at 
Gl^rolles, 227, 228 
attack on, 244 

window of, at St. Saphorin, 226 
Montfaucon, Baron de, and Chateau 

de Fonbonne, 93 
Montjoux, monastery of, 60 
Montjoux-St. Bernard, Chateau de, 59 
Montreux, 45, 165, 168 

Gorge du Chauderon at, 170 
growth of, 169 
old church of, 169, 170, 171 
Montriond, hill of, 265 
Morge, the, 137 
Morges, Castle of, 273 
Church of, 272 
compared with Rolle, 283 
Grande Rue, 272 



Morges (continued) 

Harbour of, 273 

Hotel de Ville, 274 

" La Laiterie," 275 

lake-dwellings at, 271 

Passage de la VoMe, 274 

Rue des Fosses, 274 

Rue du Lac, 272 
Morley, John, " Voltaire," 4 
Morley, Lord, on Voltairism, 3, 4 
" Mus^e d'Art et Histoire," 12 



N 
Naef, M., " La Tour de Peilz," 197 
Naegueli, General, at Lausanne, 244 
Napoleon, Madame de Stael and, 300, 

301, 305 
Narbonne, M. de, Madame de Stael 

and, 301 
Necker, Jacques, and Castle of Coppet, 

311 
Necker, Madame, and Cousin " Toton," 
318 
and Madame Vermenoux, 257, 298 
and Susanna Curchod, 257, 258 
burial place of, 314 
Gibbon meets, in Paris, 259 
monument to parents of, 310 
mother of Madame de Stael, 258 
portrait of, at Coppet, 313 
Nernier, 41 

Beatrice of Faucigny and, 44 
chateau and church at, 43 
Lamartine at, 44 
" Neuvecelle," by Edmond Rolhn, 111 
Nicod de Menthon, and Nernier, 44 
" Notre-Dame de Graces," 92 
Nougaret, P., " Beautes de THistoire 
de la Savoie et de Geneve," by, 9 
Noville, 155 
Nut Tower, legend of (see Tour du 

Noyer) 
" Nyon k travers les Si^cles," by Th. 

Wellauer, 289, 290 
" Nyon et ses Environs," by Aug. 

Testuz, 294 
Nyon, 289 et seg. 
Burgundians at, 289 



342 



Index 



Nyon (continued) 
castle of, 290, 292 
church of, 295 
" Maitre Jacques " at, 294 
Porte Notre Dame, 292 
Porte St. Jean, 293 
Porte St. Martin, 292 
Promenade des Marronniers, 292 
Romans at, 289, 294 
Rue des Jardins, 294 
Rue du Marche, 294 
Tour de la Flech^re, 294 
Tour Jules Cesar, 293 
" Writing on the WaU " at, 295 



" (EuvRES historiques de M. I'Abbe 

• Gonthier," 61, 63 
Orbe, Convent of the Clarisses at, 92 
Ouchy, 263 et seq. 

Byron and Shelley at, 264 

castle of, 264 

H6tel d'Angleterre, 265 

Hdtel Beau Rivage, 263 



Paravicini, M., and Chateau of 

Ripaille, 76 
Pavilliard, M., Gibbon and, 253, 254, 

255 
Penthouses at Geneva, 11, 17, 18 
Petit Lac, the, 44 
Petit Rive, 135 
Phillipe de Savoie, and Bishopric of 

Lausanne, 247 
Piaget, Juhen, house of, 34 
Picard, L. E., " Abondance," 130 

" Histoire de Thonon," 55 
Picot, the Petardiery and the Escalade, 

35, 36 
Pierre, Count of Savoy, and Castle of 
Coppet, 311 
and ChiUon Castle, 174, 175 
and Morges, 273 
and woods of Bret, 136 



Pierre, Count of Savoy (continued) 

La Tour de Peilz and, 197 
Pierre de la Baume, last Bishop of 

Geneva, 21 
Pierre de Vufilens, Chevalier, Castle of 

Vufflens and, 277 
Pierre of Yvoire, 45 
" Pierregrosse," the (see " Great 

Stone ") 
Pinching, Sir Horace, and La Tour de 

Peilz, 198 
Pleiades, Les, 165, 209 
" Port Choiseul," 321 
Pont du Sex, 153 
Port of Tongues, 48, 49 
Porte du Sex, 154 
" Prseterita," by Ruskin, 8, 11 
Prevost, Noble F., " History of 

Evian," 90 
Promenthoux, bay of, Roman camp 

on, 289 
Promenthoux, point of, 44 



QuARTiER St. Pierre, Geneva, 9 
Quisard, Lord of Crans, 309 



Raverat, a., " Haute Savoie," by, 

65, 115 
Ravoree, and Chateau de Montjoux- 
St. Bernard, 60 
family and Yvoire, 46 
Read, Meredith, " Historic Studies in 
Vaud, Berne, and Savoy," 47, 91, 
95, 123, 159, 160, 177, 191, 200, 
208, 245, 249, 250, 260 
Recamier, Madame, at Coppet, 297 
beauty of, 307 

bedchamber of, at Coppet, 312 
" Red Count," the (see Amadeus VII), 

70 
Red Cross Society, foundation of, 24 
Reformation, the, at Lausanne, 244 
memorial in Geneva Cathedral, 23 
monument to, in Geneva, 14, 30 



343 



Index 



" Regeste Genevois avant TAnnee, 

1312," 65 
Renard (see Deonna and Renard) 
Replat, J., " Le Sanglier de la Foret 

de Lonnes," by, 71 
Rhone, the, 1, 7, 12, 13, 152, 153 

bridges of, 13 

entry of, to the lake, 152 

last bridge over, 153 

Ruskin on, 13 
Rhone Valley, 152, 165 
Ripaille, captured by Bernese, 75 

Carthusian monastery at, 75, 76, 77 

Charles Emmanuel of Savoy at, 160, 
161 

chateau of, 69 et seq., 76, 77 

church of, 76 

General Dupas purchases Chateau 
of, 75 

legends of, 78 et seq. 

Priory and Chapel of St. Maurice at, 
74 

" The Drama " of, 71 

Tour du Noyer at, 78 

Tower of Pope Felix V at, 75, 79 
Rives, 59 
Rocca, marriage with Madame de 

Stael, 302, 303 
Rochers de Naye, 165 
Rodolfe I, 10, 62 
Rodolfe II, 10, 62, 63 
Rodolfe III, 62 
Rodolphe, first Abbot of Abondance, 

130 
Roger, Bishop, and Ouchy Castle, 264 
RoUe, 269, 283 et seq. 

compared with Morge, 283 

medicinal spring at, 285 

Voltaire at, 285 
Rollin, Edmond, " Neuvecelle," 111 
Romans, at Aubonne, 286 

at Nyon, 289, 294 

at St. Prex, 282 

at St. Saphorin, 224 

at Thonon, 54 

at Vevey, 189 

at Villeneuve, 156 

defeat of, at Noville, 156 
Rousseau, J. J., and Clarens, 171 

and Madame de Warens, 200, 207 



Rousseau, J. J. {continued) 

and "rocks of Meillerie," 139 

at Vevey, 195 

birthplace of, 18 

" Juhe ou la nouvelle Heloise " and, 
141, 142 

statue of, at Geneva, 13 
Royaume, Mere, heroine of the Esca- 
lade, 33, 36 
Ruskin, on Geneva, 8, 11 

" Prseterita," by, 8, 11 

on Lake Geneva, 5 

on the Rhone, 13 



Sabran, Count de, at Coppet, 297 
St. Andrew, Chapel of. Tour Ronde, 

124 
St. Bernard of Menthon, 60 
Saint-Beuve, on Madame de Stael's 

" Corinne," 303 
St. Catherine, Chapel of, at Hermance, 

43 
St. Colomban, and monastery of 

Abondance, 129 
St. Francis of Sales, 3 
at Allinges, 64 
at Thonon, 58 
Marie Aimee and, 112 
St. Gingolph, 136, 137, 138 

Shelley and Byron at, 146 
St. Maurice-en- Valais, Chatelard and, 
185 
monastery of, 130 
St. Maurice, Priory and Chapel of, at 
Ripaille, 74 
the Order of, 74 
St. Paul, castle of, 114 et seq., 123 
church of, 114, 115 
Marie Aimee and the Angels at, 112 
St. Prex, 269 
church of, 282 

legend of St. Prothais and, 279 et seq. 
Maison de Ville at, 281 
Romans at, 282 
walls of, 281 
St. Prothais, Bishop of Avenches, 279 
et seq. 



344 



Index 



St. Saphorin, 224, 225 
St. Sulpice, 270, 271 
Sales, 169, 170 

Saracens, and monastery of St. Mau- 
rice-en- Valais, 130 
Savoy, the " real " country, 106 

et seq. 
Savoy, Counts of, 2, 75 (footnote) 
and Allinges, 62 
and Chatelard, 185 
and Evian, 93 
and Morges Castle, 273 
and Rolle Castle, 284 
and Thonon, 55 
and Tour Ronde, 135 
and Yvoire, 46 
Savoy, Duke of, and Bellerive, 40 
and Lausanne, 244 
and the Escalade, 29 
Bonivard and, 181 
Scheuchzeri, J. J., " Itinera Alpine," 

242 
Sea-gulls on Lake Geneva, 14 
Seiche, the, 1 

Senarclens, Frangois de, and Castle of 
Vufflens, 277 
Henri de, 277 
" Seven Angels," the, legend of. 111 

et seq. 
Shelley, and Vevey, 189 
at Clarens, 146 
at Evian, 95 
at Geneva, 10, 11 
at Meillerie, 145 
at Ouchy, 265 
at St. Gingolph, 146 
" History of a Six Weeks' Tour," 11, 
95, 145 
Signal de Bougy, 269 
Simplon Pass, Evelyn and Wray at, 
148 
road to, 139 
Sion, Bishops of, and Chatelard, 
185 
and Chillon, 174 
and Montreux, 168 
and Vevey, 191 
at La Tour de Peilz, 197 
Smeth, Gaspard de, and Castle of 
Coppet, 311 



Sordet, Aime, House of, at Cully, 232, 

233 
Stael, Madame de, and Coppet, 297 e 
seq., 312 

and Gibbon, 259 

and her father, 305 

appearance of, 307 

Benjamin Constant and, 305, 
313 

Bonstetten and, 306 

burial place of, 314 

Byron and, 306 

career of, 298 et seq. 

children of, 300 (footnote) 

" Corinne," by, 303 

marriage with de Stael, 300 

marriage with Rocca, 302 

M. de Narbonne and, 301 

Napoleon and, 300, 301, 305 

parents of, 298 

portraits of, 307 

works of, 303 
Stael-Holstein, Eric, Baron de, mar- 
riage of, 300 

portrait of, at Coppet, 313 
Steiger, Hieronymus, arms of, on Rolle 
Castle, 284 

Jean, and Rolle, 284 
Stevens, A., " Madame de Stael," by, 

297, 302 
" Switzerland," by William Beattie, 9 



Tallentyre, S. G., " Life of Vol- 
taire," 324, 325, 327 

Tavel, Etienne de, marriage of, with 
Francois de Blonay, 186 

Territet, 165, 168 

Testuz, Aug., " Nyon et ses Environs," 
294 

** The Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Empire," by Gibbon, 260 

" The Romance of Savoy," by Mar- 
chesa Vitelleschi, 100 

Thollon, 83 

Thonon (Thonon les Bains), 39, 41, 54 
et seq. 



345 



Index 



Thonon (Thonon les Bains) (continued) 

capture of Castle of, 65 

church of, 58 

history of, 55 

Hdtel de Ville, 58 

Minimes Convent at, 57 

museum at, 110 

Place du Chateau, 57 

Rue Chante-Coq, 57 

St. Francis at, 58, 59 
Three Towns, the, 165 et seq. 
Thuyset, Chateau of, 67 
Ticknor, on Madame de Stael, 304 
Tour, Franfoise Louise de la (see 

Warens, Madame de) 
Tour de la Flechdre, at Nyon, 294 
Tour des Langues, Rives, 60 
Tour du Noyer, Ripaille, legend of, 78 

et seq. 
Tour Jules Cesar, Nyon, 293 
Tour Ronde, 135 

Blonay Castle at, 123 
Trive de Dieu, 265 
Turin, re-interment of Pope Felix V 

at, 75 
Turquet, Theodore, de Mayerne of 

Aubonne, story of, 287, 288 
Turrettini, the, at Geneva, 20 



Vallon de Novel, 136, 137 
Varicourt, Mademoiselle, Reine Phili- 
bert de (" Belle-et-Bonne "), and 
Ferney, 328, 331 
marriage of, 329 
Vermenoux, Madame, and Susanna 

Curchod, 257 
Versoix, Chateau of, 320 
Vers oix-la- Ville, 319 e/ seq. 
Versoix le Bourg, 319 et seq. 
Vevey, Bourgs of, 191 
Chateau of, 191 
Church of St. Martin at, 194 
Convent of St. Claire, 192 
De Blonay, Chateau at, 116 
history of, 189 et seq. 
Hdtel du Lac, 193 
Lisle, Ludlow, and Broughton at, 
193, 194 



Vevey (continued) 

Madame de Warens' house at, 195 
201, 208 

museum at, Carcans in, 231 

Place du Marche, 195 

Rousseau at, 195 

Shelley at, 189 

statue of St. Martin at, 192 

Villeneuve, Gate of, 192 
Victor Amadeus II, abdication of, 104 

and Evian, 100 et seq. 

and Madame de Warens, 103, 117, 
205 

death of, 105 

dismantles Allinges Castle, 63 

paviHon at Amphion built by, 87, 
103 

second marriage of, 103 
Villeneuve, 156-60 

" Black Death " at, 157 

Bouvier House at, 159, 162 

Church of St. Paul at, 159 

gates of, 158 

hospital of St. Mary, 157 
Villette, Church of, 236 
Vineyards, 4, 39, 166 

of D^zaley, 229 

of La Cote, 269 
Viret, at Disputation of Lausanne, 

246 
Viry, Amedee de, 284 

and Chateau of Coppet, 311 

and Church of Coppet, 310 
Viry Tower, 284, 285 
Vitelleschi, Marchesa, " The Romance 

of Savoy," by, 100, 103 
Voltaire and Bonne-Baba, 329 

and Mile, du Varicourt, 328, 331 

and Versoix, 321 

as " Patriarch of Ferney," 325 

at Ferney, 4, 324 et seq. 

at Rolle, 285 

Chateau des Menthon and, 286 

Gibbon and, 259 

house of, at Lausanne, 249 

Madame Denis and, 324, 327 
" Voltaire," by John Morley, 4 
"Voltaire, Life of," by S. G. Tallen- 

tyre, 324, 325, 327 
Voltairism, 3, 4 



346 



Index 



" Voyage pittoresque autour du Lac 

de Geneve," 168 
" Voyage pittoresque en Suisse," by 

Emile-Begin, 9 
Vufflens, Chateau of, 276 



W 

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, " Amiel's 

Journal," 20 
Warens, Madame de, and Victor 

Amadeus II, 103, 117, 205 
escapade of, 200 et seq., 250 
house of, at Vevey, 195, 201, 208 
Wellauer, Th., " Nyon k travers les 

Si^cles," by, 289, 290 
Werner at Coppet, 297 
Wey, Francis, " La Haute Savoie," by, 

76, 95, 126 



Williams, Robert, on Reformation 
monument at Geneva, 15 

Witches, torture of, in Chillon 
177 

Wray, Captain, tour of, with Evelyn, 
147 et seq. 



YOLANDE DE LA ViLLETTE, and SicUF 

de Corsant, 211 
Yonge, Charlotte M., " A Man of 

Other Days," 49, 56 
Yvoire, 41 
castle and walls of, 45 
chateau of, 47 
church of, 47 
history of, 46 
" The Gibraltar of the Lake," 44 



347 



Printed in England by 

Cassell & Company, Limited, 

London, E.G. 4. 

F. 25. 322 
















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